Greene Gets Vaccinated

Local medical facilities have formed a coalition as they continue distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine throughout Greene County. Greene is still currently in Phase A1, vaccinating health care personnel, long-term care facility residents and those with high risk conditions.

“We started working with the Greene County Emergency Management Agency in partnership with Centerville Clinic, and Washington and Mon Valley hospitals to form a consortium to say ‘Okay, what is this rollout going to look like, how are we going to do this, how will people register?’” says Sarah DeCarlo, director of clinical operations at Cornerstone Care.

Sarah explains that originally local counties had a central registration process that was well-managed, but when the state opened up to individuals 65 and older, the site crashed multiple times.

“We realized we needed to have our own individual registration,” Sarah says. “For the first two-three weeks we were getting thousands and thousands of requests per day.”

Sarah says that although there may have been chaos behind the scenes, she is proud of how smoothly the clinics are running.

“It was a well-oiled machine,” she says. “I couldn’t be more proud of our staff. Within two days after the vaccines came in, they were vaccinating 150-200 people a session.”

According to Sarah, Cornerstone Care has the capacity to administer 2,000-3,000 vaccines a week, however they have been limited to 750-1,000 vaccinations a week due to shortages that began in mid-January.

“We’ve vaccinated about 5,000. That number would be so much higher with consistent shipments from the state,” Sarah shares.

Waynesburg University’s Department of Nursing has been assisting Washington Health Systems in administering the vaccine, as a team of four is needed to inoculate one person.

“In preparation, nursing students participated in a COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic Simulation on Friday, February 5, and Monday, February 8, on the campus of Waynesburg University. The overall goal of the simulation was to foster student confidence and competence,” Barb McCullough, vice president of human resources at Washington Health System says in a news release.

This has been helpful in easing the demand for trained professionals on-site.

Clinics apply to the state of Pennsylvania for doses of the vaccine and are notified of their allotment for the week a few days prior to delivery. Washington Health Systems Manager Stephanie Wagoner says because of that, WHS has approached distribution in a different way.

“WHS is only scheduling patients based on the number of vaccines in which we have a confirmed delivery for,” Stephanie says. “This prevents us from having to cancel appointments.

We work quickly to schedule appointments and the first thing we do is reserve the correct amount that is needed to accommodate our second dose patients first. Then we can determine how many first dose appointments we can make, based on the remaining supply.”

WHS is currently only vaccinating local residents of Washington and Greene counties and has distributed a little over 18,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. This number includes a mix of those who have received both first and second doses.

Local clinics are administering the vaccine by appointment only, with vaccine forms easily accessible online.

“If you do not have access to a smart phone or a computer with internet, you can call (724)-579-1100 for registration assistance,” Stephanie says.

Sarah DeCarlo says anyone who does not feel able to register themselves can also call Cornerstone Care at (724) 852-1001 and someone will assist in registering and filling out the necessary information online.

A vaccine provider map is available to find clinics near you at https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Vaccine/Pages/Distribution.aspx .

The SWPA Area Agency on Aging is offering free rides to all seniors, 60 years of age and older, needing transportation to and from their scheduled COVID-19 vaccination appointment. Those interested can call Greene County Transportation at (724) 627-6778 with completed vaccine information. The Area Agency on Aging will also make vaccine appointments for individuals that do not have access to the internet.

Stephanie Wagoner acknowledged that with low supplies of the vaccine as well as high demand for it and its necessity for two doses, that the process is moving much more slowly than desired.

“We realize that many registrants have been on our registration list for weeks now and we are doing everything possible to get to them an appointment,” Stephanie says. “We just need more vaccines to be able to put into arms to speed up the process.”

All local clinics have reported immense gratitude from the community and a collective positive experience in the past month.

“WHS is proud to be an important part in the fight against COVID-19 in our area,” Stephanie says. “We are receiving a ton of positive feedback from those that have been vaccinated at our clinics. They tell us how friendly the staff are, how quick and efficient our process is and how safe they felt while receiving the vaccine. We have also received an outpouring of community support. Some of this has come in the form of monetary donations or food and snacks for our employees.”

Chief Medical Officer Edward Foley at Cornerstone Care understands and addressed the numerous reservations and concerns regarding the COVID-19 vaccine’s safety.

“All three vaccines now approved for ‘emergency’ use have proven to be extremely safe and effective in preventing severe illness,” Edward says. “The Pfizer and Moderna products were tested early on before the emergence of variants and were 95% effective in preventing even mild disease. The Johnson & Johnson version was tested in more challenging settings like South Africa and, while mild illness sometimes occurred, it was 100% effective in preventing hospitalization or death.”

Edward says that through it all, vaccines are the only path to return to normal life.

“Folks getting these vaccines are clearly the path to ending this pandemic,” Edward says. “Getting people vaccinated in every country on the planet will obviously be difficult, but it will be the only way to prevent COVID from continuing to circulate and come back to haunt us year after year, much like influenza.”