Milwaukee health systems, community health centers say they'll contact their patients about getting COVID vaccine
Guy BoultonPeople over 65 now are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, but they should hold off on contacting hospitals and physicians.
Health systems and community health centers in the Milwaukee area are compiling lists of eligible patients, drawing on information from their electronic health records, and plan to contact them to schedule appointments for the vaccine.
Hospitals, health centers and doctors have been besieged by calls since the state announced those 65 and up are eligible to be vaccinated.
But when people can get the vaccine will depend on when and how many doses become available — and that’s unknown.
“The biggest challenge is we don’t know what our allotment is week to week,” said Gerry Steele, a spokeswoman for Froedtert Health.
What is known is all this will take time.
Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties have roughly 250,000 people over the age of 65. Supplies are limited, and vaccinating everyone in that age group is expected to take several months.
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Another complication is two shots are required for full immunity. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is 95% effective. The Moderna vaccine is 94% effective. Both are much more effective than vaccines for the seasonal flu.
This means that 500,000 doses of the vaccine are needed to vaccinate 250,000 people.
“Continue to be patient,” said Anthony Linn, a physician and chief medical officer of Outreach Community Health Centers. “We will get to you as soon as we can.”
He encouraged people to get the vaccine when eligible — and to talk to their doctor or someone on his or her staff if they are wary.
The federal government is paying for the cost of the vaccine and there is no out-of-pocket costs for patients.
Here is some basic information on what health systems and community health centers in the Milwaukee area are doing for the next phase of the vaccine rollout — and what is known so far about how people who are not patients in those systems can get vaccinated.
Froedtert Health
The health systems will begin vaccinating patients on Monday who are 65 or older and who have a primary care provider with the Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin network.
It will contact patients by email, letter or through the MyChart feature of its electronic health records system to schedule an appointment to get the vaccine.
Patients are encouraged to set up a MyChart account and to download the Froedtert & MCW mobile app.
Froedtert Health will not have a waiting list.
The health system has set up a hotline that people can call for information. The number is 414-805-2000. Additional information also is available at Froedtert.com/covidvaccine.
Froedtert Health plans to offer vaccines to people who are not its patients once supplies become available.
Aurora Health Care
Aurora patients must download the LiveWell app from Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store. All vaccinations will be scheduled through the app.
Aurora, part of Advocate Aurora Health, will contact patients through the app to schedule an appointment for the vaccine.
The health system said it has updated the app with easy-to-follow instructions.
Advocate Aurora also is working on ways to schedule patients who may not have smartphones or be comfortable with the technology, said Mike Riopell, a spokesman.
Aurora, too, will not have a waitlist. But it also hopes to offer vaccinations to people who are not patients once supplies become available.
More information is available at aah.org/vaccine.
Ascension Wisconsin
The health system will contact its patients who are 65 and older and eligible for the vaccine to schedule appointments.
People must be a patient of Ascension Medical Group Wisconsin.
The health system — which will have its first vaccination clinic for eligible patients on Monday — asked that people not call its hospitals or clinics.
Additional information is available at healthcare.ascension.org/COVID-19/vaccinations.
ProHealth Care
ProHealth Care will contact its patients by email, text or phone to let them know when they can schedule an appointment for a vaccination.
The health system is setting up a single location for the vaccinations.
“We will vaccinate as many patients as we can, as quickly as we can,” it said in a statement.
Additional information is available at ProHealthCare.org/Vaccination.
Community health centers
The four community health centers and the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center in Milwaukee provide care to about 85,000 people, and their clinics will be among the sites offering vaccinations.
Progressive Community Health Centers plans to begin vaccinating patients who are 65 and older next week. For now, the vaccines will be available only to its patients and only by appointment.
The community health center is reaching out to its patients who are eligible for the vaccine.
“We are asking for patience as we work through the vaccination rollout process,” Sarah Franҫois, director of fund development and marketing for the community health center, said in an email. “While we would love to vaccinate everyone right away, our capacity is dependent upon state guidelines, allocation of doses, and staffing.”
Outreach Community Health Centers plans to contact patients by text, the MyChart feature of its electronic health records system or, in some cases, calling people directly, said Linn, the chief medical officer.
It will ask them to call or schedule an appointment through MyChart.
The community health center, which also plans to begin giving the vaccines next week, has prepared a list of patients over 65 from health records.
Milwaukee Health Services, too, is reaching out to its patients.
One challenge is it may not know how many vaccines it will receive until the day before they arrive, Tito Izard, a physician and president and CEO, said in an email.
“This makes contacting and coordinating patients who need transportation or assistance in arriving to the clinic difficult,” he said.
Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers expects a slow rollout given that it anticipates receiving a small number of vaccines each week.
It plans to call patients weekly to schedule appointments.
For now, it is struggling with the volume of calls that it is getting from patients with questions about when the vaccine will be available, Alison True, a spokeswoman for Sixteenth Street, said in an email.
The Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center, which is getting its vaccines from the Indian Health Service, has begun giving vaccines to people who are 60 and older.
The health center, which initially limited the vaccines to patients 70 and older, had vaccinated 70 patients as of Monday.
It, too, is limiting vaccinations to people who are patients of the health center and is contacting them directly.
The health center plans a phased rollout based on age and patients most at risk.
“The vaccine is here, it's just going to take some time,” Lyle Ignace, a physician and CEO of the health center, said in an email.
Patients of independent physicians
People whose doctors don't work for a health system or a community health center will be able to get the vaccine at other sites, though some details aren't known yet.
The City of Milwaukee's vaccination site at the Wisconsin Center is one place that will have vaccines available to such patients.
Other municipalities’ health departments and some retail stores, such as Meijer, also plan to offer vaccinations.
A good starting point for information is Milwaukee County's website HealthyMKE.com, which can connect people who are eligible with places to get the vaccine.