Development of a Mission-Aligned Campus-Community Partnership Model: The Urban Institute Flu Vaccine Initiative for the Indigent of NYC

Incredible advances in health care have been made over the past century. Despite its position as a powerful country which offers the opportunity for state-of-the-art high-quality patient-centered care, many people within the U.S. do not have access to or cannot afford health care. Recently, the U.S. has seen the passage and early implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Even with this recent reform and expanded access, many people living in the U.S. remain marginalized, uninsured and underinsured and are therefore challenged in accessing necessary health care services. Universities have a unique opportunity and responsibility to explore and identify solutions for such problems of society. This paper describes the methodology and results of a novel campus-community partnership that serves to directly respond to an unmet yet important health care need of a marginalized patient population. The Urban Institute of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at St. John’s University was successful in developing a community outreach initiative that provided free flu vaccines to an underserved indigent patient population in New York City in an effort to decrease their risk for flu-related morbidity and mortality. The initiative utilized the knowledge, expertise and skills of pharmacy practice faculty (and student pharmacists) and provided the flu vaccine to 200 people at community partner sites of the University. This Urban Institute initiative serves as a model for other campus-community partnerships that will search out the causes of poverty and social injustice and provide effective concrete solutions for our community. Author: John M. Conry, Pharm.D., AAHIVP, FNAP Clinical Professor and Assistant Dean for Service Programs Director, The Urban Institute College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Chair, Faculty Research Consortium Vincentian Institute for Social Action Senior Research Fellow, Vincentian Center for Church and Society St. John’s University Contact Information: St. John’s University St. Albert Hall, Room 114