Eastern Iowa Health Center launches multilingual vaccine campaign, transportation service

CEDAR RAPIDS — As the federal emergency pandemic declaration ends, there are still swathes of under served populations who have yet to receive a COVID-19 vaccine or the updated bivalent booster, designed to be more effective against newer strains of the coronavirus.

A new ad campaign launched this spring by the Eastern Iowa Health Center in Swahili, Spanish and African French aims to reach them in their native language wherever they are watching TV or streaming content. After English, Swahili is the second-most spoken language of 44 languages spoken by the clinic’s patients.

Before President Joe Biden ended the federal pandemic emergency declaration on April 10, about a month before it was initially set to expire, the Eastern Iowa Health Center launched the new ads at the request of the federal government.

“The fact is that among people who have received the COVID-19 vaccination series, only 18 percent have received bivalent boosters,” said Joe Lock, president and CEO of the Eastern Iowa Health Center (EIHC). “This latest push was requested by the federal government.”

Linn County’s population is about 88 percent white. But the patient base at EIHC is 46 percent people of color. Among minority populations, the uptake of the booster more effective against new strains of COVID-19 is even lower.

In addition to trust building through interpreters, advocates and diverse faith community leaders, Lock said EIHC hopes to counter skepticism and connect better with clients by speaking their language. As treatment of COVID-19 transitions from pandemic to endemic, annual boosters will become a part of life for protection against the virus.

“Instead of just the flu shot every year, you get a COVID shot every year,” he said.

But after growing 400 percent in the last four years, getting patients to the clinic is half the battle. With about 70 percent of low-income EIHC patients on Medicaid, transportation can be a significant barrier.

In January, the clinic launched a new transportation service to get patients to and from appointments in partnership with the city of Cedar Rapids, Linn County, United Way and the Neighborhood Transportation Service. With $650,000 in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act signed by Biden in 2021, EIHC was able to purchase a 14-passenger, wheelchair accessible bus.

The new bus is equipped with software that allows drivers to pick up patients and deliver them back home after appointments with as much route efficiency as possible.

“Seeing that bus is kind of like a rolling billboard,” Lock said.

EIHC is one of 14 Federally Qualified Health Centers in Iowa, and one of about 14,000 in the country. As EIHC continues to grow, it is constructing a new $5.6 million dental clinic set to open Nov. 21.

“That federal charter is the same for everybody,” Lock said. “Even if you can’t pay, we’ll still treat you. It’s what we do.”

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