An Irish dance performance kicked off a lively St. Patrick’s Day-themed Immunization Clinic & Festivity at Seabury at Springvale Terrace, where residents and staff gathered to “get pinched” while celebrating the holiday.

Wearing green leprechaun top hats and shamrock-adorned suspenders, residents of this affordable housing community in Silver Spring, MD, chatted with staff while pharmacists from Seabury’s long-standing vaccine partner, Giant Food, set to work prepping a selection of shots, including the bivalent COVID-19 booster as well as vaccines for flu, tetanus, pneumonia, and shingles.

Resident David Gadson, 81, eagerly rolled up his sleeve (see photo at upper right). “I don’t hesitate. If it is going to help, I will take it,” says Gadson, a former New Yorker who moved to Seabury a year ago. “I don’t think the Lord would put it out there if it wasn’t safe.”

Such enthusiasm is not unusual, says Marcy Hunter, Seabury at Springvale Terrace’s executive director, who organized the “Get Pinched on St. Patrick’s Day” clinic using grant money received from LeadingAge national’s partnership with the Department of Health & Human Services’ “We Can Do This” campaign. But, Hunter notes, “Funds to support an event like this are hard to come by,” so she jumped at the grant opportunity.

Irish dancing was just the first of many activities scheduled throughout the day, all aimed to lure residents out of their apartments and into the community.

By noon, the Giant team logged 22 shots, including but not limited to bivalent boosters. “Many [residents] haven’t gotten some of their vaccines, like tetanus, in 20 years,” Hunter says. David Gadson selected a pneumonia pinch. “I take all vaccines,” he says.

Aiming to keep the entire Seabury at Springvale community healthy, Hunter opened this clinic to staff and their families, who dropped by to enjoy a mid-morning snack, gift raffles, lunch, and afternoon karaoke.

The wrap up? “Sweets,” says Hunter. “That always gets residents out!”