Second Gentleman Pool Reports of June 23, 2021

SGOTUS in Chicago - Pool report No. 1

Greetings from Chicago. It's 69 degrees and lightly raining off and on. Lisa Donovan, here, your print pooler for Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff's visit to Chicago. Lots of technical issues so forgive the tardy dispatch here.
Mr. Emhoff is here today as part the White House "We Can Do This" bus tour to boost COVID-19 vaccination numbers.
His first stop was on the South Side at It's Official Barbershop, 1256 W. 63rd St. in the Englewood neighborhood. Chicago Department of Public Health statistics shows the community has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the city. The Biden administration declared June a "national month of action," a multi-pronged effort to reach his goal of getting 70% of adults partially vaccinated – meaning at least a single shot - by Fourth of July. Some of the effort involved giveaways like airline, cruise and baseball tickets, while the White House launched an effort to recruit 1,000 barbershops and salons across the U.S. to help with the vaccination efforts, whether through free services for the vaccinated or offering shots on the spot.
During Emhoff's the roughly 20-minute visit he was joined by Illinois U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and Dr. Cameron Webb, a White House senior policy adviser for Covid-19 equity.
Emhoff asked barbershop owner Channal Coleman, who's business has been an important part of Chicago's hyperlocal vaccination efforts here, about what the nation can learn about getting reaching more people to get shots in arms.
She talked a bit about that program: In May, as the city was winding down operations at the United Center mass vaccination site, the city of Chicago pivoted to local efforts to reach the 6. The city's "Vax and Relax" partnership with barbershops and hair salons included It's Official Barbershop giving out free haircuts and gift cards to vaccinated people.
The Biden administration declared June a "national month of action," a multi-pronged effort to reach his goal of getting 70% of adults partially vaccinated – meaning at least a single shot - by Fourth of July. Some of the effort includes the bus tour as well as giveaways like airline, cruise and baseball tickets, while the White House launched an effort to recruit 1,000 barbershops and salons across the U.S. to help with the vaccination efforts, whether through free services for the vaccinated or offering shots on the spot.
After taking pictures with some staff, he was off to his second stop, Esperanza Health Clinic, 6057 S. Western Ave. – just blocks from the barbershop.
NOTE: Because of tight scheduling and aforementioned technical issues, quotes will come later.

FYI: The nonprofit Civic Nation's Made to Save campaign is hosting today's events. The campaign's aim is to build trust in the COVID-19 vaccine in communities hit hardest by the pandemic through educational programs and rallies like this. Civic Nation's leadership team includes a number of alums from the Obama-Biden administration including Valerie Jarrett, who served as a senior adviser to then-President Obama, who is now the board's chair.

SGOTUS in Chicago - Pool report No. 2

Pool report No. 2 – Emhoff in Chicago. Quotes from barbershop

Emhoff asked Coleman, the barbershop's owner, about what she tells customers who might be hesitant about getting vaccinated.
Coleman, who was a frontline medical worker, told Emhoff "Working in the nursing field, we hear that all the time 'I don't want to get vaccinated…it's going to give me COVID.'"
She went on to explain that people are educating themselves about the efficacy of the vaccines and how contracting the virus could make it worse.
Emhoff went on to ask "What works? What are you telling them that works to help them make" a decision.
Coleman said it's about educating hesitant customers, letting them know she trusts science enough that she's been vaccinated and that historically vaccines have staved off viruses like the flu.
Dr. Cameron Webb, a physician who is part of the Biden administration's COVID-19 task force, told Coleman how as a nurse she's a trusted source for information about the vaccine. He also talked about how he used to live in Chicago and saw then how barbershops here "were so involved in public health initiatives" including efforts to get the word out about managing high blood pressure.
Coleman said she heard from fellow Black residents in the early days of the vaccine "not being able to get to it right away – they said they had to go way out of the neighborhood, how it's hard to get to."
Emhoff said the nation's vaccine effort must now "meet people where they are…" and that's why the promotional bus tour he's on along with hyperlocal vaccination events are important.
When Coleman said she had heard at least on vaccination event was coming to Lollapalooza, the multi-day music festival in downtown Chicago, Emhoff joked "Oh, I may have to come back."
Before Emhoff posed for photos, he asked one of the customers how he was doing. The customer said he didn't know Emhoff would be there but to be sure to to "tell Kamala I love her."
Emhoff replied with a laugh: "You know I love her – we have that in common."
That's it for the barbershop. Next up: The health clinic event.

SGOTUS in Chicago - Pool report No. 3

Pool report No. 3
Second Gentleman arrived at Esperanza Health Center Southwest in Chicago shortly around 12:30 – 12:35 p.m. CST. It's the second of two stops on his public schedule.
Emhoff declared multiple times at the clinic, which saw a steady of people coming to get their shots, that getting vaccinated is "not political." At a brief rally to thank healthcare workers and volunteers in the clinic's parking lot, the comment drew some nods in the crowd which included a number of local Democratic politicos including Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Dr. Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health as well as Chicago First Lady Amy Eshleman.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was presiding over a Chicago City Council meeting today and was not here, received her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the health center several months ago.
During a roundtable discussion on both boosting vaccination rates and healthcare equity he doubled down on that message saying "This is not political – I've been all over the place. This is not political. Nobody's talking about Republican (or) Democrat – not once where I've been," Emhoff said.
He told the panelists on hand that a big part of his role in the "We Can Do This" bus tour was really to hear out public health experts, community leaders and others about their work to boost inoculations in their cities.
"I've been doing this second gentleman job for five plus months and I spend most of my time on the road. I've been to 18 or 19 states, and have held numerous listening sessions on COVID, other issues small business, you name it."
"I'm married to the vice president, so when we have dinner and it's like 'Hey, honey how was your day?'" Emhoff says he'll lay out what he's heard on the road from those on the frontline of the vaccine effort.
Panelist Gloria Williams, the founder of the Voices of West Englewood community news and information website, said she went door-to-door, encouraging residents to get immunized but said some residents in the largely African American neighborhoods where she was doing the outreach were hesitant, often referring to the Tuskegee experiments. While Williams said she and others understood the concerns, they tried both be empathetic and listen to those valid concerns while forging ahead with a message about the importance of vaccinations.
"By knocking on the doors and building a rapport with constituents, with the residents …. and (b)eing honest and being truthful about why we should take the vaccine," she said, adding "The most important thing we have to (do) is to educate. Once we educate then we can expose them to the things that they need to know: Why it's important to take the vaccination."
Panelist Anthony Santos, founder of the Gage Park Latinx Council, says the roughly three-year-old group is run by and has been assisting undocumented and LGBTQ residents on the Southwest Side. In the Gage Park neighborhood, he says, 92% of residents identify as Latino or Hispanic.
"A lot of folks who are undocumented and didn't know who to trust around getting medical care" including those who speak Spanish. His organization has stepped in to help residents set up COVID-19 vaccination appointments as well as field questions and concerns about their healthcare, he said.

"We're really proud to have a grassroots-led cultural space here on the Southwest Side that has been partnered with Esperanza (Health Center Southwest) to open this Mexican site that we're at now," Santos told Emhoff and the other panelists. "We actually have two of our staff members working out front so when folks come into (the clinic) they can book an appointment directly with us - folks that they trust and know."
Santos also said: "I think for folks that still have hesitancy, it's not an overnight process, it's engaging the folks at our center and in our community at the bakery, in the hair salon wherever, day after day, and you know, really just answering questions and also giving them gentle nudges and reminders of why it's important. I think that as Chicago opens up, it can be a little bit misleading for folks who haven't been vaccinated to think this is over, we're ready to get back out. And so, letting them know that this isn't over there are variants out there, there's still a lot of folks at risk, and that it's important for you to do that. Right now we're seeing that with a lot of youths and younger people."
And panelist Carmen Vergara, a public health nurse and Chief Operating Officer at Esperanza Health Centers, the clinic's umbrella group, said she sees a "silver lining" in the pandemic if only it changes the way healthcare is delivered. She said the outreach efforts to get those vaccinated today should be a model for getting residents – especially those in need – all manner of medical care.
In what was a carefully orchestrated visit, Emhoff toured the clinic and even stopped off to encourage a young brother and sister, Kendrick Guadarrama,12 and Layla Guadarrama, 13, as they were about to get their vaccinations. Emhoff told the children at one point before getting their shots "I don't love a needle" but said he braved it and that he didn't feel a thing.
That's a wrap. Event ended at 3:00 P.M. CST.