Oregon’s adult care homes lack COVID-19 vaccinations

Due to a communication error between the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), adult care homes in Oregon have largely gone unvaccinated for COVID-19. These are single-family residences that offer personalized care to older adults and people with disabilities.

The error occurred because the OHA was led to believe that adult care homes would be covered under the Federal Pharmacy Partnership Program, yet there were not. Now, they are scrambling to cover the facilities themselves by working with various in-state providers, such as Safeway.

According to Polina Orlova ’21, who is an employee at A Place To Call Home in Tigard, this situation could have been avoided if the OHA had allowed adult care home nurses to distribute the vaccine to their own residents.

“I think that the whole vaccination process has been handled incorrectly … because every single one of these facilities has nurses who can give the vaccinations themselves,” Orlova said. “We know how to give vaccines, we know the whole procedure and it just makes no sense for (the OHA) to complicate the process so much.”

On Jan. 29, the office of Gov. Kate Brown, J.D. ’85 put out a statement that doubled down on her decision to prioritize educators throughout the early vaccination process. Nowhere did it mention older adults who, up until recently, did not even have the option of receiving a vaccine.

Orlova believes that Brown’s statement does not accurately reflect Oregon’s 1A group vaccination process, which has consistently failed to ensure adult care home vaccinations.

“It’s just fake optimism because behind that (statement) are people that have been left out by the system … it’s kind of a reflection of the values of our country, which is to make it look like we’re making progress when we’re not,” Orlova says.

The rollout of 1A group vaccinations in Oregon began on Dec. 21. Since then, residents in only 300 adult care homes have been vaccinated according to DHS. Oregon has 1,400 licensed homes, meaning thousands of residents have been left waiting for their vaccinations despite being considered high-risk for COVID-19.

Orlova believes that the lack of communication between adult care homeowners and those who are responsible for distributing the vaccine is indicative of a larger problem within the system.

“For yearly flu vaccines, there’s regular communication between the doctors we’re involved with and the coordinator,” Orlova said. “And they have full trust in us that we are going to be able to distribute it with no issue.”

Adult care homes in Oregon had to wait until Feb. 19 to receive a clarifying statement from OHA. It came after Gina Roberts, owner of A Place To Call Home and Orlova’s employer, expressed her frustration to KGW8 in an article that has since captured the attention of state and local authorities. In the article, Roberts details how her adult care home had initially scheduled appointments through CVS Pharmacy only to have them canceled without a clear explanation.

Although OHA said that they would work with the Oregon Department of Human Services Office of Aging and People with Disabilities to cover adult care home residents, Orlova expressed dissatisfaction regarding the lack of direct action.

“We got in the news, but the most we got was the Oregon Health Authority blaming it on the CDC,” Orlova said. “How does that help us? I don’t care who’s to blame. I don’t know why they think an answer to anything is blaming somebody. Now our residents are trying to find out ways that they can (get the vaccine themselves).”

She explained that forcing residents to look outside their adult care homes for vaccinations places them in a difficult situation financially and emotionally, and poses a significant health risk.

“We have a pod,” Orlova said. “We wanted to keep that immunity throughout this whole process. It’s a big thing to have to break that … the process of having to go get the vaccine outside of the facility means the possible exposure to COVID-19.”

Ultimately, the mood inside Roberts’ adult care home is one of extreme frustration. They are still waiting to be contacted by OHA or DHS and are hoping that their residents can receive the vaccinations they need as quickly as possible.

“Everybody feels kind of hopeless, forgotten, angry — also saddened and confused,” Orlova said. “It’s an angry, emotional situation there because what it all says to them is that they don’t matter.”