APRIL 29 • 2021 | 25

Y

ad Ezra, Blue Cross Blue 
Shield (BCBS), Wayne 
State Medical School 
and Wayne Health collaborated 
to offer vaccines to Yad Ezra 
clients and others who had not 
been able to get an appointment 
yet.
This effort took place at Yad 
Ezra on April 23.
Yad Ezra’s Executive Director 
Lea Luger serves on the gov-
ernor’s Protect Michigan 
Commission, which encourages 
people to wear masks and social 

distance to combat the spread of 
COVID. 
Luger chairs the faith-based 
subcommittee group. During a 
call, members expressed interest 
in Yad Ezra hosting a site to 
administer the vaccine because 
of all it does for the community. 
“Given we’re an organization 
that’s been in business for 31 
years and there’s a level of trust 
that our clients have for us, I 
said wouldn’t it be great if we 
could be a site to administer the 
vaccines? And because we’re in 

neighborhoods where our con-
stituents live,
” Luger said. 
Luger approached the gover-
nor’s office with hopes of being 
one of those sites, citing concerns 
that many of its clients, especially 
in the Russian population, may 
not be so comfortable with get-
ting the vaccine otherwise.
“If they knew it was happen-
ing at Yad Ezra, people might be 
more inclined to participate and 
get vaccinated,
” Luger said. 
Luger connected with Suzanne 
Miller of BCBS and, through her 
efforts, she was able to coordi-
nate an effort between the four 
organizations to administer vac-
cines to their client population.
Yad Ezra, with the help of 
volunteers, made phone calls to 
its client base who had not yet 
gotten the vaccine to let them 
know. Sign-ups as well as walk-
ins were available. People stayed 
in their cars and drove into Yad 
Ezra’s parking lot, with medical 
personnel administering the 
vaccine.

Yad Ezra targeted their clients 
who may be more compromised 
and may not have access to other 
facilities or transportation. Then, 
it opened to others to make sure 
every vaccine went into some-
one’s arm; about 500 vaccines 
were available. 
Key people from each organi-
zation, including Dr. Phil Levy 
from Wayne State School of 
Medicine, Colleen Whatley from 
Wayne Health (formerly known 
as the Wayne State University 
Physician Group) and Erica 
Stamatoulakis from BCBS, all 
played important roles in the 
collaboration. “I couldn’t have 
done this without them,
” Luger 
said. 
“I’m very proud of this,
” Luger 
reflected. “Here’s a way to reach 
out to a client population that’s 
vulnerable and maybe lacks the 
ability for whatever reason to 
navigate the system. Here we 
had the opportunity to bring the 
vaccines to them, by bringing it 
here to our building.
” 

YAD EZRA

Yad Ezra, BCBS, WSU Medical 
Schools and Wayne Health 
collaborate to distribute vaccines.

Yad Ezra, BCBS, WSU Medical 
Shots in Arms

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Yad Ezra hosted 
a mobile vaccine 
clinic April 23.

