AMT a Key Part of COVID Vaccination Push in Peoria

The most “average” American city was anything but when it came to its COVID-19 vaccine rollout. 

In fact, Peoria, known as a meat-and-potatoes middle-America test market, has made ambitious moves toward stamping out the deadly virus in its area. With a metropolitan population of under 400,000, the Peoria area is often overshadowed by Chicago, three hours to the northeast. But in COVID-19 response Peoria has been a clear standout.

“If Peoria County were a state, it would be No. 2 in the nation for total number of doses administered per 100,000 residents. That’s very impressive,” said Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker in a late-February press conference. 

By mid-March Peoria had vaccinated nearly 90% of its over-65 population, and 55% of the eligible population under 65 had received a first dose. These numbers are about 2.5 times the state average. Also targeted in the Peoria area were the most vulnerable populations: the homeless, the incarcerated, persons with disabilities, and others in congregate living. 

Partnerships and Other Pieces

Just a stone’s throw from the USDA Agriculture Lab that first developed mass-produced penicillin stands Advanced Medical Transport (AMT). While the lab changed the course of modern medicine, the private not-for-profit ambulance provider’s forward view has earned national recognition in the areas of safety, technology, cardiac arrest resuscitation, and, most recently, its response to the pandemic. 

AMT teamed up with the Peoria City/County Health Department in the spring of 2020 to roll out and staff mass-testing facilities throughout the community. Included was one drive-through site on AMT’s campus that offered free 15-minute rapid testing to all police, fire, and EMS personnel in a tricounty area. On a busy day this site handled up to 100 tests for frontline responders who may not have had access to testing otherwise. 

“When rapid antigen testing became available, we again partnered with the health department to open a rapid testing center for first responders throughout Central Illinois, a three-county region,” says Kelly Walsh, AMT’s director of innovation. “We also began providing testing services through our Rapid Ambulatory Specialty Program to high-risk ambulatory patients throughout the Peoria area as well as all homeless shelters in Peoria County.”

By late fall talks shifted to delivery of vaccinations and how to help the most vulnerable residents in the most efficient manner. It seemed like a massive undertaking, but Peoria’s “big small town” dynamic helped various agencies and jurisdictions mesh.

“We had all the pieces in place: trained staff, vehicles, distribution channels, and, most important, partnerships,” says Vice President of Business Development Todd Baker. “Open channels of communication with public health and hospital officials are key in an effort like this.”

Vaccine Strike Team

Public health officials agreed the EMS model was suited to take vaccine doses on the road. AMT was the first in its region to pilot mobile integrated healthcare in 2015. Such innovations in service delivery paved the way for AMT to mobilize a vaccine strike team. This team of a few dozen people can spread out to sites and deliver doses to hundreds, sometimes thousands, of residents per week. Team members come from every facet of AMT’s operations—from the CEO to family members of care providers volunteering their weekends. 

“Like many EMS agencies across the country, staffing has been challenging over the past few months,” says Walsh. “Our administrative team was fully on board and quite frequently came out to assist in everything from completing paperwork to drawing up doses. We also hired nontraditional staff for an EMS agency: RNs without EMS certification or experience, LPNs, CMAs, and even nursing students. 

“On days when we had 200 vaccines to administer in one location, with some residents not being able to come to the community rooms, we were able to create additional jump kits and send out smaller teams to individual apartments or locations. It truly takes a team to get a job of this scale done. And this is just the beginning.”

Baker says the early challenges were related to securing a supply of vaccines. But looking forward he sees community outreach as both a future challenge and a future opportunity. 

“We are working with community leaders, such as church pastors, to make sure minority populations and residents in our legacy neighborhoods have access to reliable information and every opportunity to become vaccinated,” he says.

Walsh notes some residents may lack Internet access to get information or have transportation issues. Future strike team operations may include neighborhood pop-up vaccination sites. 

Walsh says the rollout of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will help streamline operations and make the team more efficient and effective than before.

That “will give our mobile team even more leverage,” she says. “We plan on being able to provide vaccine essentially on demand to our high-risk ambulatory population as well as host community-based vaccine events in neighborhoods, at churches, and at other locations throughout the community. Our next few months will be very busy. With the support of the Peoria City/County Health Department and the great team here at AMT, I have no doubt that we will get the job done.”

Josh Bradshaw is community resource manager for Advanced Medical Transport in Peoria, Ill.