One year with COVID: Maine's hospitals at center of state's COVID-19 vaccination efforts

One year with COVID: Maine’s hospitals at center of state’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts
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Updated: 11:08 AM EST Mar 10, 2021
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Updated: 11:08 AM EST Mar 10, 2021
TRACKING THE COVID-19 VACCINE
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Updated: 11:08 AM EST Mar 10, 2021
Since Maine began vaccinating residents in mid-December, the state’s hospital groups have been at the center of the vaccination efforts.It’s been a big shift after months of focusing on caring for patients infected with the virus.“In the beginning, we were just talking about people that get admitted to hospitals, and it wasn't much that we could do for them and we just slowly watched people die,” said Dr. James Jarvis of Northern Light Health.Jarvis said the vaccines have been a turning point for front-line workers.On Dec. 15, the first health care workers began to receive the vaccine, including Maine Medical Center ICU nurse Danielle Poulin.“It’s exciting. It's the beginning of the end of COVID, which is super promising,” Poulin said in December.As the vaccines worked through hospitals, Jarvis said they began planning to administer the shots to the public. He said he used some of his training in the Air Force, where he helped build transportable hospitals, to create a mass vaccine site in Bangor.“We are not a construction company. We're not a website design company. We are not an on-call center company. We are a health care company, and yet, you know, if you look at the Cross Insurance Center, we were able to put that together in about 72 hours,” Jarvis said.In mid-January, Mainers 70 and older became eligible to make appoints for vaccines. That effort led to older Mainers reaching out to 8 Investigates to share confusion and concerns as each hospital group created their own systems for signing up Mainers.Hospitals said the biggest challenge was the limited supply of vaccine.“It was terribly stressful, just horribly stressful,” York Hospital patient Richard Topping said. For those who were vaccinated, like Persis Laverack, 93, who lost several friends to the virus, it was a sign of hope.“We are blessed that there is a vaccine,” Laverack said.The loss weighed heavily for some who received their shot. Jarvis said a woman recently went to their Bangor clinic to be vaccinated a day after burying her husband who died of the virus.“Our security officer took her through the entire process, didn't leave her side, and I will say that will probably carry us through the next few months of vaccinating to make sure her experience is a unique experience but one that touched us all,” Jarvis said.At the end of February, the federal government approved the emergency use of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, also known as the Janssen vaccine. Shortly after, the state announced it was changing its vaccination strategy to an age-based approach. Gov. Janet Mills and Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah said the change was based in science.“The decision we are making would benefit the most people and save the most lives,” Shah said.As more Mainers become vaccinated as the virus continues to change and mutate, there is relief, while at the same time a push to continue social distancing and mask-wearing.“Now I am hopeful. That still is going to take a lot of time; talking about the majority of our population will not be vaccinated before summer. So people just need to be patient, but hopefully by fall we will start talking about easing some things up that we're doing right now,” Jarvis said.

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