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Leading a Successful Vaccine Rollout

����Թ� Foundation Chair John Elliot, BArc ’70, Charleston, WV, his wife, Fonda, and their company, (AMFM) are major players in the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in their home state of West Virginia.  

With the help of Lifetree Pharmacy, AMFM’s partner pharmacy in Cabin Creek, West Virginia, all 19 AMFM centers located throughout the state were able to administer the first dose of the vaccine in three days—and, three weeks later, the second dose in three days.

“Never in our modern history has such a massive vaccination effort with this scale and urgency occurred,” says John Elliot. 

He and his wife founded AMFM in 1982 and have built the company into West Virginia’s leader in skilled nursing, rehabilitation and long-term care services. Their company’s care centers employ more than 2,000 professionals and serve nearly 1,500 patients.

“Fonda’s and my role in vaccinating our employees and patients was to ensure we had the right leaders in place to oversee the vaccination process,” Elliot says. “Working with the West Virginia National Guard and our partner pharmacy, Lifetree Pharmacy, we hit the ground running as soon as vaccines were received.”

Lifetree Pharmacy used its courier service to deliver the vaccines to each of the 19 AMFM centers. Vaccination clinics were scheduled immediately the next morning or afternoon, depending on when vaccines arrived. 

“Our own nursing teams administered vaccines throughout all the AMFM centers,” Elliot says. “Our patients felt more comfortable receiving the vaccine from someone they know and trust.”

As of March 9, 2021, 65% of AMFM employees and 84% of patients have been vaccinated. West Virginia has been touted as a leader in vaccinating long-term care and assisted-living patients, as well as the general population. The leadership, planning and execution of Lifetree Pharmacy helped West Virginia overcome the challenges other states have experienced in their vaccine rollout efforts, according to Elliot.

After graduating from ����Թ� State, where he was a first-generation college student, Elliot founded John Elliot Associates, Architects and Planners, in 1972, and he began designing and building nursing homes in West Virginia in the late 1970s. He and Fonda, a certified nurse, began providing nursing home services when they founded AMFM, and he earned a degree in health services administration in 1991 from the West Virginia University Institute of Technology. 

As the Elliots grew their business, they also grew their commitment to philanthropy, both in their local community and at ����Թ� State, where they are the largest donors in the university’s history. In recognition of the Elliots’ generosity, in the fall of 2018 the ����Թ� Board of Trustees voted unanimously to name “The John Elliot Center for Architecture and Environmental Design” in his honor.

The Elliots have supported numerous scholarships, fellowships and programs, including the ����Թ� Scholarship Fund, the Elliot Studios for Design, the Elliot Scholars, the Elliot Professorship in Health Care Design, the Elliot Program for Healthcare Design, the John and Fonda Elliot Design Innovation Fellows and the Elliot Family Foundation Architectural Scholarship.

Since the Elliots founded AMFM, their focus has been on the care and well-being of the patients and employees in each care center. The vaccination program has further sharpened that focus.  

Educating the AMFM community was key in the company’s successful vaccination effort, Elliot says. They gave AMFM employees multiple opportunities to learn about the vaccine. The centers also provided information to patients and their responsible parties so they could make decisions about taking the vaccine. 

“Since our initial doses were administered in December, the number of COVID-19 positive patients and employees has continually decreased,” Elliot says. “Many of our centers are now open to schedule in-person visitation for our patients and families.

“Our advice to officials in other states is to follow the guidance of health officials and get the vaccine to vulnerable populations first, whether they are in a healthcare facility or in the community. This will save lives and ease the strain on our healthcare systems. It is the light at the end of the tunnel to put the COVID-19 pandemic in the history books.”

—April McClellan-Copeland

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