A trade group representing nursing homes and other long-term care facilities is encouraging those most at risk for COVID-19 to get vaccinated .

Last month, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) announced an effort to persuade residents and staff members to get vaccinated as soon as possible during the early stage of the vaccine rollout.

“Vaccination is the best tool we have had in the ongoing fight against this historic threat,” said the group’s president and CEO, Mark Parkinson, in a news release. “The faster we get people vaccinated, the more lives we can save. We believe this educational effort will help our residents and staff make informed decisions that will safeguard not only their own health, but also the communities where they live and work.”

AHCA/NCAL has organized a toolkit with posters, checklists, talking points, and social media graphics to make the case for vaccination.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that COVID-19 vaccination in long-term care facilities is essential for saving lives, with 39 percent of all deaths related to the coronavirus involving residents and staff members in long-term care.

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TikTok Donations With Heart

Associations may not always be sure how to make sense of new social media platforms for fundraising.

Perhaps the secret is finding the right influencer, someone who can jump behind your cause. For the American Heart Association (AHA), that was J.T. Laybourne, a Utah-based star on the social network TikTok who has undergone multiple open-heart surgeries—one at the age of four and one just last year. His wife, Brooklyn, helped keep his 1.3 million followers updated when the most recent surgery took place.

“This all happened and unfolded on TikTok. My wife did a really good job of informing this amazing community that we had become a part of every step of the way, where things stood,” he told WKRG-TV.

Soon after, AHA reached out to Laybourne about promoting its own TikTok presence, and the couple responded by launching a fundraiser—and convincing two couples that also frequent the platform to join them. Together, they’ve raised more than $300,000 for the association.

“They talked to the right dude and the right dude talked to the right charity and it is the best thing that could happen to end this year,” Edward Dudez, one of the TikTok fundraisers, told the TV station in December.

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