Taking Healthcare by Storm: Industry Insights with Molly Gatto

In this captivating episode of Taking Healthcare by Storm, delve into the world of expert insights as Quality Insights Medical Director Dr. Jean Storm engages in a thought-provoking and informative discussion with Molly Gatto, MHA, an Immunization Consultant with the Pennsylvania Immunization Coalition.

Email Molly.

If you have any topics or guests you'd like to see on future episodes, reach out to us on our website. 

This material was prepared by Quality Insights, a Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official views or policy of CMS or HHS, and any reference to a specific product or entity herein does not constitute endorsement of that product or entity by CMS or HHS. Publication number 12SOW-QI-ARPA-122724-GK

Transcript

Welcome to "Taking Healthcare by Storm: Industry Insights," the podcast that delves into the captivating intersection of innovation, science, compassion, and care. 

In each episode, Quality Insights’ Medical Director Dr. Jean Storm will have the privilege of engaging with leading experts across diverse fields, including dieticians, pharmacists, and brave patients navigating their own healthcare journeys. 

Our mission is to bring you the best healthcare insights, drawing from the expertise of professionals across West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the nation.

Subscribe now, and together, we can take healthcare by storm.

  Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Taking Healthcare by Storm. I am Dr. Jean Storm, the Medical Director of Quality Insights, and today we're going to be talking about a subject that is very relevant right now. I think there's a lot of misinformation around about vaccinations, and I think it's really important for us to talk directly about vaccines.

What education is available and what people should know around vaccination. So our guest today is definitely an expert in this area. I am thrilled to be joined with Molly Gatto, an immunization consultant with the Pennsylvania Immunization Coalition, and the Pennsylvania Immunization Coalition plays a pivotal role in ensuring that every resident in the state has access to safe, effective vaccines.

Molly works tirelessly to combat vaccine hesitancy, promote education, and improve access to immunizations for people of all ages. With the ongoing challenges of misinformation and the lasting impact of the COVID 19 pandemic, her work has never been more crucial. Today, we're going to explore the coalition's mission, discuss strategies for overcoming vaccine hesitancy.

And hear about innovative ways that the coalition is helping to increase vaccination uptake across Pennsylvania. This is going to be a very valuable conversation. I'm really excited to get started. Molly, thank you so much for joining us today. 

Well, thank you for inviting me. This was an exciting opportunity for me.

Great. So tell us how you came to do what you do. 

So it's a long and, um, not complicated, varied path. My first career was an educator. And then I moved into the health care world and I've worked in health care and the public health world for many years. At this point, I've worked on programs for children with special health care needs and an opportunity presented itself a couple of years ago to lead this initiative during the pandemic.

Which was especially important to me, uh, to get word out about the importance of being vaccinated and especially with the, um, rollout of COVID vaccine.

Yeah, I will say I think you're you. You probably your work is super charged, especially with getting the covid vaccine education out. So can you tell us a little bit about the Pennsylvania Immunization Coalition and what role it plays in promoting public health across the state? 

I'd be happy to. So PAIC, which is the acronym for the Pennsylvania Immunization Coalition, has been around for quite a few years.

And as you can imagine, when COVID descended upon us. It became even more relevant to work with coalitions across the Commonwealth to educate them on the benefits of vaccination, including the COVID vaccine. Our work is scientifically based. It's just important that we get that word out to protect

All the people in mission is to encourage residents to receive all recommended immunizations. How do you ensure that your efforts reach diverse populations across Pennsylvania, especially in underserved communities? 

Part of our grant that we work off of for this education is specific to the uninsured and underinsured populations.

And, you know, anyone familiar with Pennsylvania probably is aware of the diversity within the state between urban areas, suburban areas, and rural areas. And when talking about our approach to education, we realized, and you'll hear this from me more than once, probably during this podcast, it really goes down to working with the trusted partners within each community.

So we identified Um, some of these trusted partners, which could be county based immunization coalitions, could be community organizations that are involved in this type of work, um, church groups, anyone in the community that might have an impact on the people that are drawn to those organizations would be key to us working with to find out the best way to, um, provide the information to the people that they serve.

So, so such important work. Um, we know that PAIC works with a broad network of health care providers, community organizations, and policy makers. Can you share some examples of successful partnerships or initiatives that have had a measurable impact on immunization rates in Pennsylvania? 

Absolutely. It was actually a little challenging just to come up with a couple, uh, because I think our groups have done some amazing work.

Um, so just by way of sort of our structure, we do some education on a statewide level ourselves through, um, uh, Social media platforms through billboards, radio ads, things along those lines. But in terms of working or drilling down to the local groups, there is a church group that we work with that is located in many counties across the commonwealth.

And, um, it is, uh, Church that serves primarily primarily black and brown individuals in the commonwealth, and they have been wonderful in hosting educational sessions and then providing vaccine clinics after their Sunday services, and it has proven to be hugely successful in getting black and brown.

Community members immunized against COVID in particular, but they offer other vaccines in addition to COVID, which I think is critically important. And they have been able to partner with some local pharmacies to make that happen. So that's just one example. Um, the other example I wanted to provide is we have another, uh, community group that we work with, the PA polio survivors group, and they really have focused on polio prevention through the polio vaccine.

They, um, a couple of years ago targeted the plain community in Pennsylvania, which of course we know there are many, and they started attending Mud sales, which I must say, I'd never heard of before they were attending these and learning from the attendees at these mud sales, the plain community, how they wanted the messaging to come to them.

Um, they are not the plain community. Generally speaking, are not big supporters of all vaccines. They do. It takes some, but what the PA polio survivors group learned was that sometimes just a simple message goes much further than inundating them with a lot of, um, scientific information. So two women involved with this group would go to the mud sales, they were in their scooters, and they simply had a sign on their back of their scooters that said, this is what polio looks like, uh, which I thought was brilliant.

pretty powerful for a parent to see and think this is what my child could have to do if they got polio. Uh, the other thing that they did with the playing community was they had created, um, some educational coloring books for the children. And again, this was new to me. I didn't know this, but children in the.

Amish and Mennonite community, some of them don't have crayons and so they were able to provide them with a coloring book and crayons and I had positive vaccine messaging in the coloring book, which is just another way to, um, provide that information and that's been successful, which is great. 

I think those are powerful messages of meeting people where they are.

And that's essential. I think that is essential in this, um, in this vaccine education. So we, we met at a conference around. Um, vaccine hesitancy and ways to overcome vaccine hesitancy, and it continues to be a significant challenge in public health. So what are some of the most common reasons you encounter for vaccine hesitancy?

And how does P. A. I. C. Address these concerns effectively in outreach efforts? 

That's a great question. And I think it takes a lot of flexibility and pivoting as we learn where the barriers are. So, you know, it starts with the conversation with those who are hesitant to drill down to why they are hesitant and then it gives you some, um, tools to provide them information that would address where their hesitancy lies.

Sometimes it's education. Um, I think. The anti vax movement has, they're very vocal and loud and we who support vaccines are less loud. And quite honestly, I think we are victims of our own success because a lot of the vaccine preventable diseases we no longer C because the vaccines have taken care of that.

So I think back to when the polio vaccine came to be and the hugely positive response of the American people to line up and get this vaccine because they saw the devastation of children and adults who contracted polio and had lifelong illnesses. repercussions from that disease. So not knowing, not being able to have a conversation with each individual who's vaccine hesitant.

We again rely on our partners, the trusted partners within the communities in which we work to help guide us to what the best platform might be, um, for providing this information. And, you know, I'll be honest, there are days it feels like you're swimming upstream with this because we are just not as loud and vocal about this.

But really, um, charging people who are hesitant to look at the source of the myth, myths and misinformation they're receiving to look at the credibility of the messenger and see how they came to be an anti vaxxer and what background they have to be making these allegations. Um, but it's, we have changed so many times and tried to have different messages to address this.

And I love that idea of, of finding entrusted individuals embedded in the community. Like that is so essential. Um, you know, we're, we're in the age of social media, so misinformation about vaccines spreads quickly. I mean, I've seen it. kind of told myself I'm not going to read comments under, you know, a post about, about vaccines, or, you know, an article about vaccines.

What strategies does PAIC use to combat vaccine misinformation, ensure that Accurate science based information reaches the public, 

um, a couple of ways we address that. Um, we like you, we don't respond to comments to things that we have posted that are factual and scientifically based, but it's hard.

We've had to block people, um, who, I guess, because they can do it, not to your face can be very, very inappropriate and things that they say about the work that we're doing. Uh, so we have tried to make posts primarily on our social media platforms that are scientifically based that debunk the myths that might be coming around.

We get some of that information from various national organizations that we partner with that really have done a lot of research. work dispelling some of the misinformation. So we're not addressing people directly with this, but we're trying to put information out there that is debunking something that you may have heard.

That's so, so very important. You know, we, we talked about vaccine hesitancy. Um, so how does approach educating communities, um, especially I guess if you identify a community with a higher level of vaccine hesitancy, do you have trusted community figures or like are they local health providers or community leaders?

Do they play a role in reducing vaccine hesitancy in certain communities? 

They, they do play a role in partnering with us to help provide that guidance to us about the best way to approach it within, um, their own communities. Uh, and it's, it's not a one size fits all template. Um, I think that in my first career as an educator, we learned that people learn differently.

We have auditory learners, we have visual learners, we have, um, Learners that use multiple modalities to learn. And so we've had to address the messaging in that same way. Um, you know, some people are all about the science. Some people are emotional, like, you know, here's here's a child who can't be vaccinated and they're exposed because some people don't vaccinate.

Some people will respond to that. Um, the herd immunity discussion, I guess, but we're seeing less and less of that. So we really do lean heavily on the trusted community members who are like minded with us and believe in the science of vaccines to help provide us information about their own communities and how we can get that educational information out there.

And those trusted partners can be school nurses, it can be, um, the primary care physicians within the community, could be, like I mentioned, the church groups, there are other community organizations that are doing work similar to ours that, um, we're not reinventing the wheel by ourselves. 

Yes, most definitely.

Um, so the COVID pandemic has highlighted the importance of vaccines and the challenges of vaccine misinformation. Most definitely. How has PAIC adapted its work to address the unique challenges posed by the pandemic, particularly with the rollout of the COVID 19 vaccine? 

As I said earlier, it's really about keeping a pulse on what's out there in terms of misinformation so that we can address that.

Indirectly, not directly to whoever is posting it, but to sort of come back in a public way, um, and appropriate way of saying, you know, this is important work. This is, this is, um, a vaccine, for example, the COVID vaccine that has saved millions of lives with very few people. Long term, um, complications as a result of the vaccine, we have to acknowledge.

Yes, there are some people that have, uh, not as positive outcomes, but in the big picture, which we always have to look at. Nothing is perfect and everything comes with some degree of, um, of challenge sometimes, uh, to get that, but overall, it is a very, very safe and effective vaccine. 

I will definitely add to that as a provider who was in the nursing home, uh, during the pandemic and since, um, taken apart in nursing home care, the COVID vaccine is saving lives, has saved lives, continue to save lives, especially with our most vulnerable, um, individuals, you know, living in the state and every state.

So it's so very important. So looking ahead, what are some of Pennsylvania immunization coalition's key goals or initiatives for the next few years? How do you plan on further increasing vaccination rates and continuing to fight the fight for against vaccine preventable diseases? 

We're going to continue our education efforts across the Commonwealth from a statewide perspective and continue to work with the community partners to address messaging.

I wanted to provide two examples of things that either we're going to be working on or one of our community partners will be working on. We're looking at a couple of different things that we can specifically work on that I think will help with school aged Children. So we were fortunate enough to get.

Information from the State Department of Health on the number of Children in each county who have a philosophical exemption to receiving vaccines. And although every county has some, we really decided to focus on the counties with the highest number of Children that have a philosophical exemption to receiving the mandated school vaccines.

And we chose five of them. They happen to be in rural communities, and we're going to be reaching out to those trusted community partners in each county to, um Ask for their help in providing messaging to these families about the importance of vaccine and see if we can flip them, if you will, to have their Children get these mandated vaccines and really track the data.

That we can get from the school nurses on whether or not our efforts over the next six months have been successful. Um, I think, you know, we've talked a lot about working with the school nurses. We've talked about the primary care physicians, whether they're family practitioners, pediatricians, the, um, FQHCs, FQHC lookalikes, rural health centers, and, you know, We're adding the religious organizations to that list because that seems to be a big motivation.

Members of different congregations are trustful of their pastor and their church and the messaging that's provided. So if we can find some of those Uh, church groups that would be willing to help with the messaging. I think that's going to make a difference in the success of this, um, effort on our part.

Um, another group is doing is recognizing, I guess, that. Even though people may have insurance, they may have difficulty accessing vaccines, um, specifically the homebound population. Either they're elderly, they have some type of limitation that would prevent them from getting to a site where they could receive vaccines.

So, um, more than one of our groups that we're partnering with have identified this as a need in their community. And have worked with other members in their community to provide homebound visits for these individuals where they can provide, um, immunization education. And they can also be immunized with whatever vaccines are needed by them in the home during the same visit, and they're working with some of the local pharmacies to accomplish this.

And the third example I wanted to share is, uh, yet another group that's located in a rural community, recognized that there was a large, um, migrant farm. And they're working with Worker population that because of their work hours, language barriers and lack of insurance also were in need of, um, vaccine education in their spoken language, as well as access to vaccines, they actually have a, um, van that they use that they will be traveling to, um, Farms in their county to provide that education and they're able to get vaccinated at the moment, the migrant workers and their families.

So I think those are important ways that we can move forward and and move the needle on the number of Pennsylvanians who have received all the recommended vaccines. 

I think those initiatives are just, um, amazing. I mean, I feel inspired because, you know, I know a major part of your mission is improving access to vaccines.

Are those programs, um, that are going to continue to make vaccines more accessible, especially you mentioned the rural underserved areas of Pennsylvania, are those programs going to continue then, um, into 2025? 

Well, our grant period, um, right now ends in the end of June of 25. Obviously, we're hoping to identify another funding source to help support some of these groups.

However, I will say, um, because our grant precludes us from purchasing vaccines, the three groups I've mentioned have been very innovative in Finding some other funding sources to purchase vaccine and to support their efforts in the community. So I'm very hopeful that these will be sustainable as things roll out into the second half of 2025.

I, 

I just love hearing about innovative individuals making a positive change. So thank you for sharing those stories, Molly. Is there anything else you would like to add? Maybe let our listeners know if they're interested in connecting or contacting the Pennsylvania Immunization Coalition, how they can do that.

Absolutely. So if you know this resonates with any of the listeners and they'd like to get involved, one of the things we've been talking about is we've identified active immunization coalitions across Pennsylvania and also What counties they serve and there are a number of counties that don't have an active immunization coalition.

Um, we have helped support other areas in the state have, uh, uh, identify individuals to be part of an immunization coalition and get them up and running with our support. And so they can reach out to me. Um, I'm happy to help them with our team identify People who would likely be like minded about the importance of vaccines in their community so that they could address the hesitancy and access to vaccinations.

Moving forward. 

So we will definitely share your email and the Pennsylvania immunization coalition with our listeners. But can you share the website and your email here for us? Sure. 

My email is M like Molly Gatto G. A. T. T. O. at P. A. A. A. P. Excellent. 

Molly Gatto, thank you so very much for joining us today and sharing the important work that the Pennsylvania Immunization Coalition is doing across the state.

Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity. It's exciting work. We certainly are facing challenges moving forward, ongoing challenges. Um, but you know, we believe in this work, so it's all worth the effort. 

Thank you for tuning in to Taking Healthcare by Storm: Industry Insights with Quality Insights Medical Director Dr. Jean Storm. We hope that you enjoyed this episode. If you found value in what you heard, please consider subscribing to our podcast on your favorite platform.

If you have any topics or guests you'd like to see on future episodes, you can reach out to us on our website. We would love to hear from you.

So, until next time, stay curious, stay compassionate, and keep taking healthcare by storm.