SCARBOROUGH – Just moments after receiving his COVID-19 vaccination on Wednesday, Robyn Goshorn was asked how he felt.
“Grateful to be here,” said the 73-year-old from South Portland. ‘And I also think a little guilty of all the people who are still waiting. But we have a wise doctor friend who said if you have the chance to get the vaccine. ”
Goshorn and his wife, Alice, 79, are the first to be vaccinated at a mass clinic in Scarborough Downs, the first place in southern Maine. MaineHealth, the parent organization of the Maine Medical Center and several other hospitals and practices, has partnered with Crossroads Holdings, the company that developed the former 500-acre harness racetrack. The refurbishment of the former grandstand in a 30,000-square-foot clinic was a powerful 15-day effort that involved more than 40 companies and cost $ 1 million.
“Today’s opening is really about community partnerships and the intense desire for Mainers to care for their fellow Mainers,” MaineHealth CEO Bill Caron said during a brief ceremony before the opening. ‘We hope that more than 300,000 Mainers will receive a vaccination at some point by walking through that front door. This is the scale we want to achieve. ”
Maine Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew was also on hand and said the launch of the Scarborough Downs site, and others like it, was the result of ‘intense work, planning, logistics and sacrifice’.
“The excitement of today is not the same as what has brought people here,” she said. “Instead, it’s the excitement of hope.”
Alice Goshorn, 79, of South Portland, is preparing to get the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from pharmacist Andrea Lai at a mass vaccination clinic at the former Scarborough Downs racetrack. Alice and her husband, Robyn Goshorn, 73, were the first two people to be vaccinated at the newly opened clinic. Staff photo by Derek Davis Buy this photo
Apart from the Goshorns, who earlier in the day agreed to be vaccinated as part of the availability of media arranged by MaineHealth, another 114 appointments are planned for Wednesday afternoon.
Among them was Robert Powers, 82, who was driving from Waterboro in York County.
“I called two or three times and just got another recording saying the call,” he said before his vaccination. ‘Then I called the next morning and went straight to someone and planned it. I became happy. ‘
Many Mainers experienced frustration trying to arrange an appointment during early implementation.
Powers, who is a widow and lives alone, said life had not changed too much for him over the past ten months. He is going to eat much less.
“I’m glad to get it over with,” he said of the vaccine.
The Scarborough Downs website will be open in the foreseeable future, every day except Sunday, and will eventually be able to accommodate 1,500 to 2,000 vaccinations per day, depending on the offer.
Maine and other states have received more doses of vaccines over the past two weeks, and production is expected to continue to increase. Lambrew said the state received a 16 percent increase last week and next week it will get another 5 percent.
“It’s still not enough,” she said.
As of Wednesday morning, at least 120,000 Mainers had received their first dose and more than 41,000 individuals, or about 3 percent of the adult population, had received both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
Northern Light Health, the parent company of Eastern Maine Medical Center, Mercy Hospital and others, this week launched its own mass vaccination center at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. It is expected to give 1800 shots by the end of the week. Other sites across the state are in the planning phase.
Vaccinations have been taking place on smaller sites for weeks now, as Maine has switched to Phase 1B of its vaccination plan. Government Janet Mills has ordered clinics to prioritize those aged 70 and over, while supply remains limited.
Scarborough was a great location for a mass clinic, Caron said, because of its location between North York County and southern Cumberland County, where a large percentage of the state’s population lives.
JoAnne Chapman, right, takes a group of medical professionals through the process of COVID-19 vaccination during a training exercise at the former Scarborough Downs racetrack, which has been converted into a mass vaccination clinic. Staff photo by Derek Davis Buy this photo
Bill Perry (74) of Wells was among the first appointments early Wednesday afternoon. He arrived about half an hour early with his wife, Rose, who at 69 just missed the age acceleration.
“I called for three days and all I got was ‘there is nothing available,'” he said. ‘The fourth time I called, I got an automated system to register. Then they called me about a week later and I got a schedule. I did not know what to expect, none of us know. ”
For many older Mainers, their first shot represents a glimmer of hope that a return to normal may be possible, though Perry has tempered expectations.
“We’re never going to go back to the normal we once knew, with or without the shot,” he said.
Robyn Goshorn had a different outlook.
“We do not plan to change our behavior, but it certainly feels like there is a future to look forward to,” he said.
The Goshorns were extremely careful during the pandemic. They did not go out to eat or hang out with friends. They had not held communion at their church for almost a year.
“We are happy, we have what we need, we have a nice place to be,” he said. “But the isolation is difficult.”
Their first grandchild was born last April. He lives in Chicago with his parents, and the Goshorns long for the day when they can visit him in person.
Alice Goshorn said she feels a little strange about getting the vaccine because she knows her life is not going to change overnight, and she quoted advice regularly offered by the director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
‘I only hear dr. (Nirav) Shah in my ear: ‘Be patient. Be patient, ” she said, pausing for a moment. “So I try to be patient.”
“Previous
The Kennebec County interview manager sexually assaulted female inmates working for him, police said in documents
Next »
Related stories
