SANTA CRUZ – On an unpleasantly hot day in January, Lun Wang, senior manager of Encompass Community Services, looks up from her car window – stretching her arm to turn out the sun – with a smile hidden under her face mask. A cheerfulness was unmistakable in her voice.
Wang was one of the first to be vaccinated against the new coronavirus during the official launch of the Sutter Health vaccination clinic, a drive-through facility created by refurbishment work in the earlier drive-in film at Chanticle Avenue.
“I feel good,” says Wang, who oversees outpatient programs that mostly serve those leaving the criminal justice system and the homeless. “It feels the same as a flu shot.”
Wang was one of about ten employees of Encompass Community Services who gave their first doses Thursday afternoon. The planning for the vaccination clinic for Sutter Health patients started with an idea on New Year’s Day and, according to Tuesday’s chief administrator of Sutter, Stephen Gray, developed into a dry run. Nurses have been training for the past 48 hours – nurses sharing the glimmer of hope associated with the COVID-19 vaccines by applause Thursday at the end of their parking lot.
Wang and her colleagues are just a group of non-Palo Alto Medical Foundation medical staff who were vaccinated on the Live Oak Hospital campus. Dentists from Dientes Community Dental Care and Santa Cruz Community Health Centers professionals also drove to the registration tents, inspected and received forms and instructions before moving to the vaccination tents all over the premises.
But Monica Martinez, CEO of Encompass, was delighted that more of her clinicians needed to be vaccinated. With just a handful of 400 Encompass employees in the province vaccinated to date, individuals working in a low-risk situation such as telehealth and higher-risk situations, such as community living environments, deserve to be protected from the customers they to be able to serve. about, she said.
“We have worked hard to ensure that our community continues to have access to the health care services we offer … health needs, mental health needs and drug use disorder are on the rise,” Martinez said, referring to the emotional toll the COVID- Those on Encompass services were used by 19 pandemics. “Now more than ever before, our staff needs to be fit for what they need.”
Helping health workers
On Thursday, dozens of workers drove through one of the two lanes to one of the ten vaccination stations, five of which were open with professionals ready to leave due to the smaller group size. On Friday, there will be hundreds, according to Gray, reading nameplates asking them to turn their car radios to a certain station to hear a loop of vaccination instructions.
“It will be said, ‘Welcome to the clinic, you’re getting your Moderna vaccine today. Here’s what you can expect, make sure your sleeve is rolled up ‘, “Gray gave as examples.
After an individual is vaccinated, they enter a smaller premises with ‘Waiting Area’ signs. As ordered by the CDC, those who do not have a history of vaccine reactions sit 15 minutes after their shot and wait, and those who do have a history of vaccination reactions wait 30 minutes after their shot, so that staff on the vaccine premises any issues. Those who experience reaction may honk their horn or flash their lights for help from nurses moored at a nearby station. Nurses will also walk around, Gray said.
After the health workers went through Thursday, the first of the patients aged 75 and older – the phase 1b phase that Sutter Health can currently accommodate – was invited to participate in the amount of doses distributed by Santa Cruz County. Gray said clinicians have determined which of the 75-year-old members of the age group is the most vulnerable and should lead the way to the population; The rest of the 15,000 elderly people in the healthcare system who meet the threshold can call a telephone number or make an appointment via their online patient portal next week.
“You must have an active medical record number at Sutter Health / Palo Alto Medical Foundation,” said Emma Dugas, coordinator of Sutter Health Media Relations.
Every patient of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation who meets the criteria Phase 1a or 1b must have an appointment to come to the community vaccination clinic. No deductions are allowed.
Gray said it is unknown when Sutter Health will move from the first phase of Phase 1b to the next, which includes professionally qualified groups such as teachers, childminders and food workers. But until then, Dugas said, health workers included in Phase 1a can still come and get their chance.
“We want to clean up (1a), so we want to help in that regard,” Dugas said. ‘We certainly did our own people, but that’s not enough … 1a continues, even as we open 1b. We can do it at the same time; we have the capacity. ”
Do it for others
Wang said much of her desire to be vaccinated stems from her work with the community, as many patients are marginalized individuals living in South County and have been worst affected by COVID-19 cases and death rates.
“I think it’s a role model for my staff in particular, especially in my leadership role,” she said as the sun set and bounced off the tarmac. “We are in a time of science. There is data. There are experts who have researched this vaccine. ‘
But one does not have to be a health leader to help a population that now feels more isolated than ever to want to be a role model for those they know.
“If you are not going to vaccinate for yourself, you should be vaccinated for your loved ones and for the people around you, because that is what will keep our community safe and can help us recover from this pandemic in its entirety,” Wang said. said.
The Santa Cruz community reported no new deaths Thursday, but 172 new cases did, according to the country’s dashboard. COVID-19 patients fill 14 ICU beds; no beds are available, state data showed.
By the numbers
Total Business: 11,447
Active business: 2,811
Ratings: 8,525
Deaths: 111
Current ICU hospitalizations: 14
Hospitalizations: 337
Open ICU beds: 1
Negative tests: 101,037