Company : Compare Foods Supermarket Charlotte
Program category : 2021 Health

Origins:

Partner with local healthcare providers Novant and StarMed to be a trusted source of information and resources for at-risk, vaccine-hesitant communities during the pandemic. Provide low barrier COVID vaccines and testing to the community in a convenient location and time to improve community health during these unprecedented times.

Contribution:

Compare Foods provided Marketing support such as public service announcement filming, digital marketing, print marketing to disseminate information and inform citizens of availability for COVID testing and vaccines. Compare Foods also provided access to its stores for weekly on-site testing and vaccine clinics.

Objectives:

  • Increase access to bi-lingual information about COVID safety and vaccine availability.
  • Increase COVID vaccine rates among at-risk populations in the Charlotte community.
  • Increase access to COVID testing for at-risk populations in the Charlotte community.

Impact:

StarMed Healthcare set a goal of 40 vaccines/day/clinic. On average, vaccine clinics at Compare Foods Charlotte locations averaged 50+ vaccines/day. To date, over 6,800 vaccines have been administered to the Charlotte community. This success can be attributed to

  • Locations of the clinics in convenient locations;
  • Consistent, weekly presence of the clinics; and
  • Bi-lingual communication of all information and having Spanish-speaking clinic workers at each location.

Quote:

"We started this collaboration with StarMed in June and the response has been amazing. Together, we’ve vaccinated more than 6000 people in the community. Anytime we can use our stores to help the community, it’s an easy decision.”
- Omar Jorge, Compare Foods Supermarket Charlotte & Chairman Aurora Grocery Group

"One of our organization's guiding principles is “Love for Others” and by extension, “Care for All.” So, when the opportunity to partner with Compare Foods was presented, we jumped at the chance to deploy our healthcare professionals to this trusted community business. With the assistance and endorsement of Compare Foods leadership, we quickly gained the trust of the patrons and were able to significantly increase COVID awareness and reduce vaccine hesitancy among the Latinx community—providing for a safe and secure experience. Equitable, affordable, and accessible health services should be available to everyone, it is through the willingness of community partners like Compare Foods that make this possible.”
- CEO of StarMed, Dr. Michael Estramonte

Support Statement:

"One of our organization's guiding principles is “Love for Others” and by extension, “Care for All.” So, when the opportunity to partner with Compare Foods was presented, we jumped at the chance to deploy our healthcare professionals to this trusted community business. With the assistance and endorsement of Compare Foods leadership, we quickly gained the trust of the patrons and were able to significantly increase COVID awareness and reduce vaccine hesitancy among the Latinx community—providing for a safe and secure experience. Equitable, affordable, and accessible health services should be available to everyone, it is through the willingness of community partners like Compare Foods that make this possible.”
- CEO of StarMed, Dr. Michael Estramonte