When Big Companies Resolve To Make Their Communities Better
This is a great use of some of our most talented organizations.
As a native of Seattle, I couldn’t be more proud. In a recent article, Andy Rose and Christina Maxouris write, “Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee announced a series of new efforts to help boost the state’s Covid-19 vaccinations, including partnerships with companies like Starbucks and Microsoft.”
This is a great use of some of our most talented organizations. They have the privilege of giving back to the very communities they live and work in. “This is an opportunity to serve others and have impact on a significant humanitarian effort,” said Kevin Johnson, Starbucks president and CEO.
It’s good to do good.
State Govenor, Jay Inslee shared that he has created a “public private partnership” between the health department and other business, health care and labor leaders, dubbed the “Washington State Vaccine Command and Coordination Center.”
Inslee will be engaging these corporate partners in the following ways:
- Kaiser Permanente: planning expertise for mass vaccination clinics and the distribution of vaccine to healthcare providers throughout the state.
- Starbucks: operational efficiency, scalable modeling and human-centered design expertise and support.
- Microsoft: technology expertise and support.
- Costco: vaccine delivery by pharmacies.
- SeaMar (community health centers): be the voice for historically underserved communities
“No, we are not a health care company,” Starbucks President and CEO Kevin Johnson said during the news conference. “But Starbucks does operate 33,000 stores at scale, serving 100 million customers a week and we have a world class team of human-centered design engineers who are working under the direction of the state and health care providers … to help support the creation of vaccination centers that can scale and … amplify the comfort, care and safety of every person who gets vaccinated,” wrote Rose and Maxouris.
Microsoft President Brad Smith said they will provide technology expertise, as well as making available their thousands of square feet of mostly vacant office space for vaccination sites, as their workforce continues working from home.
Inslee stated, “Our state should be proud of the example we have set and, more importantly, the lives we have saved. It did not happen by accident.” He went on to say, “It happened because Washingtonians’ sound, science-based, responsible actions as individuals.”
We all have a chance to be good people in this pandemic, to do good for others. Brad Smith and Kevin Johnson are wonderful examples of just that.
