San Diego Residents Receiving COVID Vaccinations and Additional Food Assistance

With COVID-19 vaccinations becoming more available to the public, we are making sure our residents get protected. Our staff has been working with various community organizations to set up vaccination appointments and transportation for our senior residents.

The Villa Serena community, one of our senior-only properties, was the first community to receive their COVID-19 vaccinations within the property. Diego Espinoza, PSCDC's Director of Services for San Diego, coordinated with the City of Chula Vista's Fire Department to provide and administer 70 vaccines to the senior residents. Residents signed up for appointments and waited patiently to receive their vaccination. To ensure the safety of everyone involved, essential COVID safety-measures had to be enforced and followed. The residents were relieved to receive the first stage of the vaccination. Diego is continually scheduling first and second-stage appointments for Villa Serena residents. We are hoping to have the community fully vaccinated as soon as possible.

Westminster Manor residents have also been scheduling appointments and receiving their vaccinations. As one of our largest senior properties, vaccinating the Westminster Manor community was a crucial first step towards protecting our most at-risk residents. Case Manager Alexis Jaimes and Assistant Case Manager Paul Gonzales worked diligently to ensure all residents received their second stage vaccination within their directed window of time despite several vaccination shortages. As of today, about half of Westminster Manor's residents have received their first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination, and about 15 of those are fully vaccinated. Alexis organized transportation to and from the Sharp South Bay Super Vaccination Site for her residents through the Lyft Direct Referral Program, which offered each resident three free roundtrip rides for medical, food, job, or education-related purposes.

Food security is another essential concern for many of our residents. To ensure households have enough food, Diego has recently teamed up with local San Diego non-profit, Grandma LuLu's Table, whose mission is to provide a plant-based, mobile, and flavorful solution for the food insecure. Our first collaboration together was held last month at our Fairbanks Ridge community. With their support, 100 households received additional meals. We are immensely grateful to offer monthly food distributions to as many of our properties and families as possible. We are thankful for the collaborations with local organizations and food banks that have allowed us to provide some food security to struggling households.

Throughout California, we are working with local organizations to provide our residents with vaccinations as they become more and more available. Currently, we are assisting eligible residents with signing up for vaccinations, transportation for appointments, and hosting vaccination events safely in our communities. We are also looking to provide more food distribution events for residents when possible. As the pandemic begins to slow, we are looking to slowly and gradually offer our usual services to bring our communities together once again.