Alan Helgeson (announcer):
This is the “Health and Wellness” podcast brought to you by Sanford Health. The conversation today is about the importance of vaccination for older adults. Our guests are Amanda Petrik, director of nursing, Good Samaritan Society - Canton, South Dakota, and Courtney Vroman, director of nursing, Good Samaritan Society - Battle Lake, Minnesota. Our host is Matt Holsen with Sanford Health News.
Matt Holsen (host):
I'm joined by two nursing directors. Amanda Petrik serves the Good Samaritan Society in Canton, South Dakota. And Courtney Vroman is a nursing leader in Battle Lake, Minnesota. Welcome. Thanks for being here.
We're talking about vaccinations, and let me start with you, Courtney. Why should older adults be getting vaccinations and which ones are the most common in your setting?
Courtney Vroman (guest):
Well, older adults, we really want to see them get vaccinations as they get older. Their immune system really declines. It doesn't respond as well in its ability to fight off infections and diseases, so they really become susceptible.
Matt Holsen:
What are some of the specific vaccinations that you're giving to folks?
Amanda Petrik (guest):
Typically during the year? Flu, COVID, RSV and pneumonia are the big ones we hit in our facilities.
Matt Holsen:
And how is that managed in a long-term care setting?
Amanda Petrik:
I have a wonderful infection preventionist and I've also went through the training. So we kind of work well together but we do set up with Lewis long-term care and we do have a plan. The first year we gave all the vaccinations at once and it was kind of hard on our elders. So now last year we spread it out more so that we have good protection through that fall season.
We started with our flu in September, RSV in October, and then we did our COVID in November. So they had that great protection through the holiday.
Matt Holsen:
Courtney, what is the process like at your location?
Courtney Vroman:
At our location, it's really a team effort. We too have an infection preventionist, but we're really looking at resident vaccines prior to them coming to the nursing home. As soon as they come to us, we have the infection preventionist and the case managers interviewing the residents, reviewing records, interviewing families, so that we can really bring all of that information together. We have a flu vaccine clinic every fall, COVID vaccine clinic every fall and as well when booster time comes up. So we're really looking at all of those things.
Matt Holsen:
Would you describe this as easy to access? I mean, it's very convenient for residents, or how would you describe that?
Amanda Petrik:
I would say it's very convenient when you have a good team that works together. Like she said, with admission, you get that baseline of what's going on and you update and educate. It's a lot of education that goes into it with families because some families are hesitant. You just really have to speak to what the recommendations are by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Matt Holsen:
That actually leads me right into my next question. Do you encounter a lot of vaccine hesitation at your location?
Courtney Vroman:
At our location, it's not unusual to encounter that. We probably encounter it more with new admissions. Usually when new admissions are coming, they're coming to us after a hospital stay, an illness. So their focus is on something other than vaccines.
So again, it's really about educating them, the importance on the vaccines, the risks and the benefits, and at the same time you're trying to develop a trust relationship with them. They're oftentimes unfamiliar with our caregivers and they don't have their usual providers around them. So it's really many things coming into play there.
Matt Holsen:
Amanda, what do you do when you encounter vaccine hesitation?
Amanda Petrik:
A lot of education. I really do emphasize the communal setting and how infections do spread quite a bit faster than if you were at home. So it's really important for that primary prevention in nursing to start with your vaccinations when coming into the setting.
Matt Holsen:
What are the risks when you do avoid getting vaccinated? What happens?
Courtney Vroman:
Well, there's risk for increased illnesses, disease, spreading amongst not just your resident population, but also over to your workforce population. Increased hospitalizations.
Amanda Petrik:
I would say that too.
Matt Holsen:
From what I remember, you guys both have high vaccination rates at your location. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Courtney Vroman:
Yeah, we're really excited about that. We achieve high vaccine rates. Right now we're in the 97th percentile for vaccine compliance rates through the Good Samaritan/Sanford platform.
Matt Holsen:
When we talk about vaccination rates and having rates that high, what does that do for a community? What are the benefits?
Amanda Petrik:
The benefits are, I'm going to tell you and I should knock on wood somewhere, but we did not have any positive cases of influenzas this year. Our COVID outbreak that we did have in January was a minimum of, I think we had five that tested positive, none of which had any symptoms. It was just kind of a fluke. The one got tested and I had to test the whole building. So we really know that the vaccinations work because we're not seeing people passing away from COVID per se.
Matt Holsen:
Courtney, what would you add to that?
Courtney Vroman:
So I can also add that usually we end up seeing a healthier community. They're developing herd immunity when they're getting those vaccines. If they do get the illness, oftentimes what we've seen, especially in the last year, is that they've had just a decreased level of acuity as far as the illness goes. So the vaccines are beneficial even if they do get COVID or influenza. The illness just hasn't been quite as strong.
Matt Holsen:
And we talked a lot about residents during this, but this goes for staff too, right? I mean you're chatting with staff, encouraging staff?
Courtney Vroman:
Yes, absolutely. Because of course if your staff gets sick, then you have other issues that you're dealing with in long-term care all while you have to continue providing cares to the residents.
Matt Holsen:
Anything you'd like to add to that?
Amanda Petrik:
We just really encourage if they're not going to do their vaccination, that they wear a mask, obviously. And then making sure we're doing great hand hygiene and all the infection prevention precautions that we do.
Matt Holsen:
Thank you for joining us on this important topic.
Alan Helgeson:
This podcast is part of the “Health and Wellness” series by Sanford Health. For additional podcast series by Sanford Health, find us on Apple, Spotify, and news.sanfordhealth.org.
