The Vaccine Machine Drives Bloom Pediatrics to New Heights

Bloom PediatricsBirmingham, MI
by Erin Post ■ Jul 2023

The Vaccine Machine, the brainchild of Dr. Katie Schafer and colleagues at Bloom Pediatrics, started a journey that led them to connect with the community in lasting ways they didn’t expect.

The Vaccine Machine Drives Bloom Pediatrics to New Heights

Bloom PediatricsBirmingham, MI
by Erin Post ■ Jul 2023

The Vaccine Machine, the brainchild of Dr. Katie Schafer and colleagues at Bloom Pediatrics, started a journey that led them to connect with the community in lasting ways they didn’t expect.

It was March of 2021. The COVID-19 vaccine had recently been authorized for adults, although supply was scarce and requirements for storage were stringent.

One day that month, Dr. Katie Schafer, one of three partners for Bloom Pediatrics in Birmingham, Mich., received a call from the state health department. It was the call she had been waiting for – they were asking for her help in getting people vaccinated against COVID-19.

One catch: Dr. Schafer had to give out 1,200 doses in two weeks, as that was the length of time the vaccine could be stored in a regular freezer. After weeks and weeks of feeling frustrated because she wanted to offer the practice as a resource for vaccine distribution – after all, the Bloom Pediatrics physicians were experts with children, why not adults? – this was their chance to make a difference.

“I remember where I was standing in the office when she called me because it was a very pivotal moment,” she said. “I knew if I said no, then she would just move on. But I didn’t want to say yes without at least 20 seconds of thought.”

So she asked to call back in one minute and consulted with her colleague, Dr. Anna Groebe, who was in her office next door. “Can we do this?” Dr. Schafer asked. When she got a quick and enthusiastic “Yes,” she immediately called the health department back to accept.

“I hung up and thought, ‘Holy crap, how are we going to do this?’” said Dr. Schafer.

The answer to that question, after a first round of offering the vaccine before and after hours at the practice, turned out to be a 2020 Chrysler Pacifica fitted with the equipment and supplies necessary to take the vaccine on the road. At first borrowed from a colleague whose husband works at a car dealership, and then purchased, the van was transformed into the Vaccine Machine, borrowing some themes from the famous Scooby Doo vehicle.

“It looks as close to the Mystery Machine as it can get,” said Dr. Schafer. “And it became our mascot.”

The Vaccine Machine was the start of a new journey for Bloom Pediatrics. Saying ‘yes’ and jumping in with only the beginnings of a plan – and a firm commitment to a good cause – taught Dr. Schafer to think outside the box and lean into the unknown.

“While many other businesses, industries, even pediatric practices, really suffered during COVID, I think we actually got better during COVID,” said Dr. Schafer.  “At that moment, it was like our practice got outside of itself. We put ourselves out into the world in a way we never had. And people noticed.”

“While many other businesses, industries, even pediatric practices, really suffered during COVID, I think we actually got better during COVID. At that moment, it was like our practice got outside of itself. We put ourselves out into the world in a way we never had. And people noticed.”

Dr. Katie Schafer

Big Plans for Bloom

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic upended so much of life, Dr. Schafer had big plans for Bloom Pediatrics.

In 2019, when she became a partner, she knew she wanted to take an active role in shaping the practice’s future.

“I take a lot of pride in our office culture,” she said. “So a lot of the things that I do are not only meant to serve our patients, but also to help build that culture.”

Her “shower thoughts” have become legendary among the staff. They know that when Dr. Schafer begins a sentence with the words, “I’m sorry, I had a shower thought,” a new idea has been born.

One example: Flower Fridays, where if her cut flower garden in the backyard works out, she’ll give away bouquets of flowers to patients and families once per week. She has come up with ways to foster a connection with the community, like when members of the staff drove The Vaccine Machine in a hometown parade or when they went to the local farmers market to offer kids’ activities. Other ideas are meant to maintain a competitive edge: The practice recently added themes to their flu clinics to compete with big box stores giving away gift cards.

“I take a lot of pride in our office culture. So a lot of the things that I do are not only meant to serve our patients, but also to help build that culture.”

Dr. Katie Schafer

“We do cider mill donuts; we do tie-dye shirts at one of our flu clinics,” said Dr. Schafer. “We did a pumpkin patch where the kids all got to take home a pumpkin when they left. We have a little band lady come and sing. We did an ice cream truck. You can start small and then what you see is how people react to those little gestures.”

The name “Bloom Pediatrics” is itself an outgrowth of Dr. Schafer’s vision for the practice. Although the practice had been in the community for half a century, the name changed many times over the years to reflect the last names of current owners. Not great for brand recognition, Dr. Schafer thought. So she worked with the other partners to change the name and update the practice’s branding.

Bloom Pediatrics, which currently has eight doctors, 12 nurse practitioners and about 85 employees, will be expanding to a second location in the fall. A new doctor will join in August, with another slated to come on board a few months later.

Dr. Schafer credits word of mouth with that growth. The practice’s presence in the community and the enthusiastic response from families who continue to trust their children’s health to Bloom has made all of the difference.

“We’re at a point where we were either going to have to close to new patients or grow,” she said. “We provide a really good service to our patients, so I felt like it was a shame to stop. Why close the doors? Let’s blossom. Not to use a play word, but truly, let’s try this somewhere else and take on that challenge.”

Expanding Reach

Bloom Pediatrics is also expanding its reach to children who may never have the chance to walk through the doors of the practice.

In the fall of 2022, a friend who works at a hospital in downtown Detroit called Dr. Schafer, asking about plans for the Vaccine Machine. When her friend suggested that it be used to host a vaccine clinic at a nearby homeless shelter, Dr. Schafer once again said yes to a good cause and stepped into the unknown. Although they had never used the vehicle for anything other than COVID-19 vaccines, the practice retooled the van and got it on the road for a new purpose.

“There were kids who couldn’t go to school unless they got vaccines,” she said. “So we went down and we vaccinated those kids.”

While there, she noticed that these kids needed more than vaccines. They needed regular visits from a pediatrician. Bloom Pediatrics stepped up to serve this community.

“We’ve created a whole mobile clinic,” she said. “It turns out a Chrysler Pacifica with no seats in it holds a lot of stuff. It’s pretty big. So now the Vaccine Machine is tasked with going to the homeless shelter. We go once a month. We do wellness visits for the kids that are there.”

The mobile clinic offers the children most of what they would see at the practice.

“We bring a scale. We do blood pressure; we do vision and hearing testing. We do lead testing and CBCs,” she said. “We basically do everything that we do in a visit in our office, but we do it onsite at the clinic.”

As a result, a new population of children that Bloom likely would not have been able to serve are now getting regular visits from a pediatrician, setting them up for better health in the long term. The staff from Bloom has also formed lasting relationships with people in a different part of the community.

“When I think of a homeless shelter, I think of a very transient place,” she said. “As it turns out, the people in this homeless shelter are there for a minute. We’ve come to know the families. We’re friends now.”

“Now the Vaccine Machine is tasked with going to the homeless shelter. We go once a month. We do wellness visits for the kids that are there.”

Dr. Katie Schafer

Trust in a Vision

When Dr. Schafer looks back at the pandemic, she sees it as a catalyst for trying new things.

“When I say COVID really changed our business, it did because we took an opportunity and turned it on its end,” she said.

The Vaccine Machine got Bloom Pediatrics out into the world, where they served not only children but the adults in their lives who are important to them – from parents and grandparents to teachers and everyone in between. No one was turned away from the Vaccine Machine. And the team at Bloom united behind the cause.

“It gave us a sense of purpose in a time when everyone was feeling a little bewildered by what to do,” said Dr. Schafer. “You can’t put a number to it, you can’t put it on the graph. I can tell you we’ve given almost 23,000 COVID vaccines, but that is minuscule compared to the number of people that we actually reached.”

Nearly three years later, this spirit of service continues and it benefits the practice as well as the community in multiple ways.

Sometimes new patients still cite the Vaccine Machine as their introduction to Bloom Pediatrics – they either had family members vaccinated or saw the van around town. Dr. Schafer wants that outsized presence to continue so that families know Bloom is engaged.

“We have to continue to meet people where they are. I don’t want our influence in the community to be lost,” she said. “So we’ve tried to find ways to be involved that we never had before.”

The Vaccine Machine
“I can tell you we’ve given almost 23,000 COVID vaccines, but that is minuscule compared to the number of people that we actually reached.”

Dr. Katie Schafer

Dr. Schafer points to a couple of things any practice can do to implement new ideas and try them out – big or small. First is to identify the team member who has a vision. This is the “yes person,” someone who comes to situations with solutions.

“They don’t have to be a doctor,” she said. “They could be an MA, they could be a nurse, they could be someone at the front desk. When people who are not in leadership positions in your office have ideas and you make them come to life, it empowers them.”

She also suggests focusing on the big picture, at least at first. In order to get a plan off the ground, it’s important to stay focused on the “broad strokes” and fill in the rest as time goes on.

“You don’t want to make big mistakes,” she said. “But sometimes, you can get bogged down by the bristles on the brush if you’re not willing to see the forest for the trees.”

The details will come but the first step is to have a clear purpose and align others behind the cause.

Trust in that vision, trust the strength of your team and the ability to make a difference, said Dr. Schafer. Then step into the unknown. It’ll come back to you in unexpected ways.

“Every time you influence somebody in a positive way, it finds its way to somebody else,” she said. “When we gave COVID vaccine, we answered the question. We served that need in a very dramatic way at the time. And I don’t think people have forgotten we did that. I want to keep finding positive ways to influence people and to show that we care.”

A resident of Burlington, VT, Erin Post has a BA degree in English from Hamilton College, a graduate of the writing program at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, and she holds a Master’s degree in Public Health at the University of Vermont. In her spare time, she likes to bike, ski, hike, and generally enjoy the Green Mountains of Vermont. Visit her website to see more of her work at erinpostwriting.com.

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