As local healthcare providers and governments implement phased vaccine distribution, staffing shortage of qualified healthcare workers remains top challenge.
SUNRISE, Fla. — Interim HealthCare Inc., the nation’s leading franchise network of healthcare staffing services and home healthcare, hospice and personal care support, is ready to address the staffing needs required nationwide and be a major part of the COVID-19 distribution. Local Departments of Health are closely monitoring guidance and operations established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. To this effort, local Departments of Health across the U.S. need the skilled resources of staffing professionals to source and place the necessary healthcare providers to administer the vaccine, including those employed by Interim HealthCare.
As the First in Healthcare Staffing™, multiple Interim HealthCare franchise locations are working with state Departments of Health to provide healthcare staffing services for individual state-organized distribution plans, but also with hospitals, pharmacies, skilled nursing homes and senior care communities to reduce long wait times. These professionals are helping to ensure effective vaccine distribution to seniors, essential workers and eventually the full U.S. population.
Shari and Scott LaFavre, owners of Interim HealthCare of Minneapolis, and their team launched a COVID-19 Call Center to provide the local hospital system with immediate and on-demand staffing support. A total of 52 staffing service employees, including registered nurses and assistants, are working full time at the hospital level to provide the necessary coverage to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. This is making it possible for in-house nurses and providers to continue caring for those at the bedside. A successful model, the local Interim HealthCare franchise location expects the staffing needs to continue over the next six months at these current levels and remain steady for all of 2021.
With reports of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses sitting in storage, waiting to reach intended recipients, there is risk that doses could become obsolete as their shelf life expires. With state-level distribution efforts and hospitals already strained for care providers, Interim HealthCare’s workforce is being deployed to serve the U.S. healthcare ecosystem with timely support of trusted healthcare staff experienced in the full continuum of care and vaccine distribution.
“The availability of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are nothing short of medical miracles, although their availability is exciting, the U.S. healthcare ecosystem grapples with how to effectively distribute and staff for the administration of the vaccine,” said Jennifer Sheets, president and CEO of Interim HealthCare Inc. “As a registered nurse, I have seen first-hand the power of life-saving medicine. Our healthcare providers have never backed down from a challenge and they’re stepping up again now for our entire healthcare system and those who need it.”
The Interim HealthCare team of professionals have led the charge in COVID-19 safety by providing temperature screening and testing services to essential businesses, law enforcement agencies, academic institutions, and healthcare facilities nationwide – as well as mobilizing partnership alignment with local medical labs to expedite test results. With the vaccine rollout, Interim HealthCare locations are strategically stationed across the country to help keep those at the highest risk safe and to make available the proper staffing needed to ensure a swift and effective distribution for all of the U.S.
With a more than 20-year history facilitating flu and pneumonia vaccine clinics, local owners are more than prepared to support the administration of COVID-19 vaccinations according to CDC guidelines as we look to return life to some normalcy.
Interim HealthCare is the country’s oldest and longest-standing healthcare franchise organization, and all locations are owned and operated locally in 41 states across the country. Interim Healthcare franchises are also recruiting prospective employees in a range of career paths from LPNs, RNs, therapists and CNAs to paraprofessionals (home health, hospice and support aides). Interim HealthCare extends a warm welcome to those new to the healthcare industry from other sectors of the economy recently impacted by job loss due to the public health emergency including restaurant and food service, hospitality and tourism and retail and other customer service fields.
For more information on Interim HealthCare staffing services, please visit:
https://info.interimhealthcare.com/covid-19-vaccination-staffing
About Interim HealthCare Inc.
Interim HealthCare Inc., founded in 1966, is a leading national franchisor of home care, hospice and healthcare staffing. It is part of Caring Brands International, which also includes UK-based Bluebird Care and Australia-based Just Better Care, both well-known franchise brands in their countries. With 575 franchise locations in eight countries, Caring Brands International is a global healthcare leader.
Interim HealthCare in the United States is unique in combining the commitment of local ownership with the support of a national organization that develops innovative programs and quality standards that improve the delivery of service. Franchisees employ nurses, therapists, aides, companions and other healthcare professionals who provide 25 million hours of home care service to nearly 200,000 people each year, meeting a variety of home health, senior care, hospice, palliative care, pediatric care and healthcare staffing needs. For more information or to locate an Interim HealthCare office, visit www.interimhealthcare.com.
SOURCE Interim HealthCare Inc.