Case report: Vaccine Brigade Chicago, Illinois: From founding February to July, 2021.

The COVID 19 epidemic disrupted every aspect of American life and imposed severe trauma as a result of lockdown, fears of disease or death, separation from and death of loved ones, and daily media coverage of the unfolding pandemic. The following case report describes the experiences of the Vaccine Brigade, a group of Public Health Nurses (PHNs) and other professionals, mostly retired, who organized themselves to provide assistance with vaccine administration in the city of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. The report describes the founding of their organization in February, 2021 and their work to support vaccine administration in communities of color and other underserved communities. This case report presents a successful model of volunteerism, built on foundational principals of collective decision making, democracy and social justice. Its members developed existing social networks and skills they had learned during their careers as PHNs and activists to create a functional organization that could assist with the task of getting shots into arms.

Connecting teens to caring adults in a school-based health center: a case study.

The traditional medical care system is generally unable to provide the broad health and wellness services needed by many adolescents, especially those from low-income and racial/ethnic minority communities. Using a theoretical framework adapted from Bronfenbrenner's ecological model of multiple influencers, this case study examined how a school-based health center was able to provide a network of connections for adolescents to caring adults within the school and the local community. Contributors to this network were the creation of a student-centered community with access to adolescent-friendly services, providers acting as connectors, and care of the whole adolescent.