More Than a Health Fair: Preventive Health Care During COVID-19 Vaccine Events

Background: During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, facilities transformed some medical care to virtual appointments. There was a subsequent decline in chronic disease screening and management, as well as cancer screening rates.

Observations: COVID-19 vaccine events offered an opportunity to provide face-to-face preventive care to veterans, and mobile vaccine events enabled us to reach rural veterans. In this quality improvement project, we partnered with state and community organizations to reach veterans at large vaccine events, as well as in rural sites and homeless housing. The program resulted in the successful provision of preventive care to 115 veterans at these events, with high follow-up for recommended medical care. In all, 404 clinical reminders were completed and 10 new veterans were enrolled for health care. Important clinical findings included an invasive colorectal cancer, positive HIV point-of-care test, diabetic retinal disease, uncontrolled hypertension, and depression.

Conclusions: Vaccine events offer a venue for chronic disease screening, referral, and cancer screening.