Cuyahoga County Drive-Up Sites Take The Stress Out Of The Shot For Many

When MetroHealth began offering drive-up COVID-19 vaccines at some locations, hospital officials were thinking of keeping people safe from viral spread. But they quickly learned that offering a drive-up vaccine makes health care more accessible.

MetroHealth’s Dr. Brook Watts helps run the hospital’s many vaccination clinics. But she also has personal experience with health care accessibility issues. She has a 15-year-old son with Down syndrome, and getting vaccines in a doctor’s office can be difficult for everyone involved, she said.

“The normal experience for us to get him a vaccine… involves me and my husband and several nurses holding him down, a lot of tears, a loss of dignity and often a change of clothes for at least one or two of us,” she said. “It isn’t pretty, and frankly it really is very, very stressful for all of us.”

That’s why using the drive-up clinic meant so much to her. The process was quick and easy, and her son was able to stay in their minivan where he felt safe, listening to his choice of music.

“One quick second, shot administered,” Watts said. “We drove around to the parking lot and my husband and I both started crying tears of joy and happiness because it was truly able to provide the care at the time and the place and the way that he needed it.”

MetroHealth started offering drive-up vaccines at the end of March, at a time when the vaccine was mostly only available to older Ohioans.

“We actually set it up in response to older folks who said that they just felt too vulnerable to go into a large setting,” she said. “They hadn’t been around anyone in a year, and to come into a mass vaccination site just didn’t feel safe.”

But the site didn’t just offer protection from COVID-19, it also offered an accessible place for people with a vehicle who might have trouble walking. People in wheelchairs, people with spinal cord injuries or dementia, people with autism or Down syndrome are all people who might benefit from the drive-up vaccine clinic, Watts said.

“Some of the joy has been that we have really found that there are other populations who really benefit from being able to have access to the vaccine in this way,” Watts said. “We were surprised and thrilled to see that many of our patients who may drive themselves, with modified vehicles, found this much easier to access. They can wait in their car, they don’t have to worry about (bus) transfers.”

She said many people get nervous about being in a doctor’s office, so providing this option just makes sense.

“It’s a safe environment, as opposed to all the stresses when you go to a doctor’s office,” Watts said.

She hopes the pandemic will have a lasting impact on making health care more accessible for everyone.

MetroHealth offers drive-up vaccine clinics in Old Brooklyn and Slavic Village, and you can register on the hospital’s website.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Health also offers some vaccines in a drive-up setting in their main clinic parking lot.