This week, Trace Ambulance donated an ambulance to UMANA for use in Ukraine. OSF HealthCare has helped coordinate multiple ambulance donations for Ukraine since March.
MENDOTA – On March 13th, 2020 the COVID-19 global pandemic was declared a national emergency in the U.S. Since then, life as we knew it has dramatically changed, and hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost across the U.S.
During this time of change and loss, however, there has also been healing and hope. From testing and treatment to vaccines and more, the medical community has made tremendous leaps forward, and our OSF HealthCare Mission Partners (employees) have been there every step of the way.
On Saturday, March 13, the one-year anniversary of the national emergency declaration, the exterior of OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center in Ottawa, OSF Saint Paul Medical Center in Mendota, and the OSF Center for Health-Streator be washed in pink lights. Pink is the color that signifies thanks, appreciation and gratitude.
(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The first wave of COVID-19 vaccines could be available to some frontline health care workers and nursing home residents in central Illinois in just a matter of days or weeks.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel gave emergency use authorization to Pfizer s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday evening. The expert panel found the benefits of using the vaccine in populations ages 16 and older outweighed the risks. Clinical trials on children are still upcoming.
NPR reports the FDA is expected to move quickly on final approval.
Dr. Douglas Kasper, the section head of Infectious Disease at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria and OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, said this vaccine works differently from most others.