RECENT VACCINATION OUTREACH
Since its inception in the fall of 2016, GPSF CAROLINAS has been focused on projects that were designed to improve healthcare in Ghana. Early last year, we had just embarked on a large fundraising campaign to bring emergency medical care to the airport in Accra. COVID changed all that and knocked the wind right out of our sails. At the last minute, we were forced to cancel all the plans we had made and lost quite a bit of money in the process. Our chapter spent the rest of the following year doing nothing. There were no meetings, no outreaches, no plans at all for the entire year. Finally, after a year passed, we decided that enough was enough. Our chapter had to re-group and try to move forward in some way. We decided to focus in on Ghanaians in the diaspora. We thought it would be very timely, given the fact that vaccines had just been opened up to all adults over the age of 18 in North Carolina, to host a COVID vaccine outreach event for the West African community at large, and the Ghanaian community in particular, in the Greater Charlotte area.
GPSF CAROLINAS collaborated with Kintegra Health, one of the largest FQHCs in the Southeast to host a 300 dose Moderna event on April 15th. We were given about two weeks to get as many people registered as possible. We partnered with the various West African churches, civic organizations such as tribal/ethnic associations and social media groups to market the event. Everyone we contacted was very gracious and eager to help. We were successful in vaccinating over 110 patients that day. Our hope is that we can build on the relationships we established through this event to bring other opportunities in health to the Ghanaian community.
