California s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers spurs protest in Apple Valley vvdailypress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from vvdailypress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Providence Southern California and Kaiser Permanente have announced a partnership to construct a new 260-bed hospital in Victorville with an expected 2026 opening.
Victorville Daily Press
Sister Terry Maher prayed over a triage tent in the parking lot of Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley on Thursday as a crew prepared to dismantle the temporary structure once used for patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mendy Hickey, St. Mary s executive director of Acute Care Services, told the Daily Press the tent s removal has fostered a general sense of “hope and light at the end of the tunnel.”
That dark tunnel includes a time last December when St. Mary experienced a surge of COVID-19 patients that resulted in zero percent capacity at the hospital.
Bakersfield and Kern County will ultimately be judged for the character, determination and rich diversity of its residents. As the year comes to a close, we look back at notable figures from Bakersfield and Kern County whose loss we have mourned in 2020. They were business people, entertainers, builders, police officers and public servants. The list includes a priest, an architect, a basketball coach, a talk radio personality, a journalist and a designer of community gardens. One of those who passed this year was only 11. Another had just turned 17. All were extraordinary in some way. All are worth remembering.
CHARLES FUZZY OWEN
COVID-19: Providence St. Mary caregivers among first in High Desert to receive vaccine [Daily Press, Victorville, Calif.]
Dec. 18 About 100 Providence St. Mary Medical Center health care workers received the first round of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, a day after an initial 15,600 doses arrived in San Bernardino County.
Providence St. Mary spokesman Bryan Kawasaki said hospital officials in Apple Valley administered the vaccine to roughly 18 caregivers per hour Thursday morning.
“The pace we were hoping for was 12 caregivers an hour,” Kawasaki said. “… We’re very excited for the turnout.”
St. Mary nurse Theresa Tate was the first of the hospital’s staff members to receive the vaccine, according to Kawasaki. Tate has worked at St. Mary for eight years, currently in the Labor and Delivery Department.