Telling the Hospital Story

On April 3, Bay Area Hospital’s Kids’ Hope Center — based in Coos Bay, Ore. — commemorated National Child Abuse Prevention Month by covering the center’s property with a sea of vibrant pinwheels.

NYC Health + Hospitals, which operates the public hospitals and clinics in New York City, announced plans to ensure New Yorkers continue to have the access to COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and treatment, as well as services to address Long COVID in all five boroughs.

As the respiratory illnesses spread, experts at WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital began to share vital information addressing the ‘tridemic,’ to help keep kids safe, avoid hospitalizations and lessen the burden on the health system.

With COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions ticking up in early 2023, University of Florida Health — which serves all Florida counties — continues to encourage people to get vaccinated and boosted. The UF Health website features “Your Guide to COVID-Shots” with vaccine availability by county, stories from community champions and resources for community partners.

Despite data on the large numbers of people who have suffered and even died from COVID-19, many still don’t fear the virus and remain unvaccinated. That was the case of an unvaccinated man in New Hampshire until COVID-19 hospitalized him at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and nearly took his life. Today, he is in good health and vaccinated.

Fewer than 1 in 4 pediatric hospital beds are available nationwide, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A pediatric infectious disease physician at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago talks about the growing risks of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, and preventing hospitalizations by getting children vaccinated.

An animated video course describes seven distinct vaccine-related mindsets, or personas, and models how health care professionals can apply person-centered communication strategies when discussing COVID-19 vaccination. The online course, created by the Stanford Center for Continuing Medical Education and based on a recent research study, focuses on using active listening strategies and motivational interviewing.

Two healthy children overcame severe illness due to COVID-19, receiving care and treatment at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. Both children had developed MIS-C, a rare but serious condition associated with COVID-19. Texas Children’s has released a video of the parents sharing their stories — and urging other parents to get their children vaccinated against COVID-19.

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, part of the Stanford Medicine Children’s Health Network, is at “level 3 alert” capacity rate due to the triple threat of COVID-19, RSV and the flu. That’s one step away of putting tents outside the hospital’s front doors. Health officials say getting vaccinated is the best defense to avoiding overcrowded hospitals and keeping kids healthy for the holidays.

Clinicians at St. Louis Children’s Hospital are making sure parents and caregivers know how to evaluate respiratory illness symptoms when children get sick during the peak of cold and flu season when RSV and COVID-19 cases are expected to rise. The hospital continues to urge COVID-19 vaccination for children age 6 months and older, emphasizing the importance of vaccinating young children to prevent death, avoid severe illness and help protect all family members.

When COVID-19 vaccines were first authorized for children, infectious disease specialists at Akron Children’s Hospital shared evidence-based information and answered parents’ and caregivers’ questions. The hospital team continues to discuss the latest updates on COVID-19 and allergies, asthma and flu in kids as new boosters become available.

Urging its communities to “band together to take action,” Munson Healthcare in Michigan has released eye-catching videos and other resources to encourage people of all ages to stay up to date on COVID-19 vaccines and boosters. Emphasizing the intense safety monitoring and testing of these vaccines, the health system also shares information geared to parents: “The more kids who are vaccinated the better vaccines work.”

Clinical leaders at the University of Utah Health are sharing data and stories to encourage people to get vaccinated or boosted against COVID-19. The health system also is the epicenter of Project Art Heals Utah, a collaborative art project that honors the “shared resilience” of communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As kids head back to school, Children’s Mercy is sharing helpful information for parents and teens on COVID-19 vaccines, urging that everyone age six months and older get vaccinated. The info emphasizes the facts about COVID-19 vaccines, including how they were developed, how mRNA vaccines works and what to expect after receiving the vaccine.

While masks have been removed from most school supply lists this season, health care officials say new variants, such as BA.5, can spread quickly putting kids and families at risk.

Riley Children’s Health is working to ensure that children, including those under age 5, get the COVID-19 vaccine, by hosting vaccine clinics across the Indianapolis area and ramping up access to the vaccine in pediatrician offices. The hospital also partnered with The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to vaccinate hundreds of children.

To encourage Arkansas residents of all ages to get the COVID-19 vaccine and booster, Baptist Health has set up vaccine clinics across the state at banks, churches, schools, shopping malls and more. These community locations provide convenient access for people to get their COVID-19 shots and, in some cases, receive an incentive. Most recently, the health system is holding immunization clinics with free back-to-school shots, including the COVID-19 vaccine, for children 12 and older.

Red Sox baseball players are among the Boston area community members who have recorded videos sharing why they got the COVID-19 vaccine. Posted on the Beth Israel Lahey Health website, the stories inspire others to get vaccinated and are part of the health system’s wide-ranging efforts to encourage COVID-19 vaccination.

To encourage all New Yorkers to get a COVID-19 vaccine and booster, NYC Health + Hospitals is featuring stories and videos of people sharing why they got their shots, including 99-year-old New Yorker Lettice Graham

Children’s Hospital Colorado has kept families informed with up-to-date news, resources and expert clinical advice about COVID-19 and vaccines. The hospital recently partnered with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to administer COVID-19 vaccines to children between 6 months and 5 years at mobile clinics at the hospital’s campuses.

Seattle Children’s Hospital is taking a collaborative approach with parents to vaccinate young children against COVID-19.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s COVID-19 vaccine confidence virtual learning courses are designed to turn community leaders and influencers, such as PTA leaders, school nurses, faith-based leaders and local business owners, into vaccine advocates and promote vaccine acceptance in their communities.

Omaha-based Nebraska Medicine shares stories about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, supported by analyses of 2021 COVID-19 statewide data. Nebraska Medicine is sharing this information as part of its continuing communications outreach to encourage people to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and booster.

Though 80% of Rhode Islanders have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Care New England says it’s not enough until all eligible are vaccinated and boosted. Care New England, based in Providence, Rhode Island, has released a series of short videos with health care leaders thanking community members for being diligent about getting vaccinated but also urging them to “get a booster vaccine today.”

In this Advancing Health podcast, Jeffrey Flaks, CEO of Hartford HealthCare, and Rebecca Stewart, vice president of content strategy, discuss the health system’s efforts to connect with the community during the pandemic, build trust and get people vaccinated. Flaks and Stewart join Kathy Cummings, AHA’s director of communications, for a conversation about how Hartford HealthCare is changing health care for the better, connecting with people in meaningful ways and helping get more people vaccinated against COVID-19.

Vermont sits atop all other states with the highest percentage of its population fully vaccinated against COVID-19: As of early February 2022, 80% of Vermont residents have completed vaccination and 64% have received a booster. And although hospitalizations due to COVID-19 are higher this winter than during the peak in winter 2021 — largely attributed to the coronavirus delta and omicron variants — the hospitalization rate in Vermont was the lowest across the United States.