LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Like much of the country, the Louisville adult day center AccessCare shut down early in the pandemic. The facility, which serves a multicultural population, 95% of which is over the age of 70, tentatively reopened in the summer but saw multiple COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the year. 

Now, with the help of AccessCare staff, nearly 70 clients have been vaccinated against COVID-19. It’s allowed many of them to move more freely in the world, a key to staying healthy at their age, and return to the center where they’ve made friends and stayed sharp for years. 

“We keep their minds going,” said Amanda Vernon, AccessCare’s director of nursing. “They do puzzles and bingo. Before the pandemic, they had English classes. They get up and walk and there’s exercise. That’s why we need the vaccines more than ever, to try to get people back here.”

Getting dozens of elderly, non-English speakers vaccinated was not without its challenges. Because AccessCare is not a nursing home, its clients fell into Group 1B in Kentucky’s vaccine priority list, behind front-line healthcare workers and residents of long term care centers. Much of the 70-plus population in Louisville has had trouble getting a vaccine, with thousands on a waitlist that is projected to take months to get through. 

But the clients at AccessCare were not alone in their quest to get vaccinated. Vernon, who was vaccinated in group 1A, said she worked every angle she could to advocate for the center’s clients, who largely do not speak English. Workers at the center have assisted in making appointments, filling out paperwork, and explaining the safety and science behind the vaccine. 

“We have had to fight so hard for these people,” Vernon said. “What’s in place with the hospitals right now, they have to send you an email. You have to go online and schedule yourself. A lot of these people do not know how to do that.”

Estrella Castro, 80, is one of AccessCare’s clients who has received a vaccine. Through a translator, she said life at home during the darkest days of quarantine was hard. She felt alone and longed for the day when she could return to the center for parties like the one held among the Spanish-speaking clients last Friday. 

In a large room, more than a dozen masked clients ate snacks and listened to music. The cruise-themed party included hand-painted decorations, salsa music, and cake. Castro and Jose Soliz, 82, did a word find as they were delivered bowls of popcorn. 

Both Castro and Soliz said they were not hesitant to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, but that was not true of all the clients at AccessCare. 

Vernon said she was able to convince some to get vaccinated by explaining efficacy and safety data. Others needed to see her and their friends go first. And now that they’ve seen that, they’re eager to get in line. 

“Once some started to get it, the people that refused at first wanted it because they saw that everyone’s fine,” she said. “We have had almost no side effects from the vaccinations.”

Before the pandemic, AccessCare would see 150 clients on a busy day. They now top out at roughly half that. But the hope is that the numbers will continue growing as vaccines penetrate more and more of the 70-plus population. 

Vernon says that will give hope to some people who are watching family members deteriorate at home. 

“I hear it all the time right now, ‘My grandma was completely active and she was fine before the pandemic. Now she can’t really get up and I’m worried she’s going to be in a nursing home.’ It’s really sad. That’s one thing these vaccines will give people. They’ll give them their lives back.”