Hospital CEO apologizes for phone system issues in scheduling vaccinations in Burke County, says things will get better
Hospital CEO apologizes for phone system issues in scheduling vaccinations in Burke County, says things will get better By Steve Ohnesorge | January 22, 2021 at 8:52 PM EST - Updated January 22 at 8:52 PM
MORGANTON, N.C. (WBTV) - More than 7,000 people in Burke County have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine so far, many of them this week at clinics held by the local hospital, Carolinas Healthcare System Blue Ridge.
Some people, though, were not happy with the system that was set up to make appointments. Phone lines opened on Tuesday morning and they were inundated.
Thursday morning, staff members of the Samaritanâs Purse emergency field hospital in Lenoir donned their protective equipment and entered the hot zone  â where COVID-19 patients are treated â for the first time.
The very first patients of the field hospital were transferred from Caldwell UNC Health Care hospital on Thursday. The hospital, made up of several large, white tents, is set up in UNC Caldwellâs parking lot. It took about a week and a half for it to be planned, organized, built and opened, UNC Caldwell CEO Laura Easton said.
On Dec. 23, the field hospital was just a vague idea, Easton said. She wondered if Samaritanâs Purse, which has provided aid for the COVID-19 crisis around the world, would consider setting up an emergency hospital in Lenoir, just down the mountain from the organizationâs headquarters in Boone.
Thursday morning, staff members of the Samaritan’s Purse emergency field hospital in Lenoir donned their protective equipment and entered the "hot zone" — where COVID-19 patients are treated — for
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