Peace Corps’ example of community, solutions and deep-lasting friendships is a model for Worcester during COVID (guest viewpoint)
Updated Mar 01, 2021;
By Tim Garvin | United Way of Central Massachusetts
There are moments; moments that shape and influence our lives. Oct. 14, 1960 was such a moment, though I certainly did not know it at the time or for years and years to come.
Massachusetts Sen. John F Kennedy arrived at the University of Michigan on that early, early morning at 2 am. He discovered 10,000 students waiting for him. In his short remarks he said this:
“How many of you who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana? Technicians or engineers, how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and spend your lives traveling around the world? On your willingness to do that, not merely to serve one year or two years in the service, but on your willingness to contribute part of your life to this country, I think will depend the answer wh
UMass Medical School launches Vaccine Corps, backed by philanthropy, to support statewide vaccine rollout
UMass Medical School Communications February 17, 2021
Philanthropic donations totaling $435,000 have been raised to support the Vaccine Corps launched by UMass Medical School, the statewide initiative to recruit and deploy volunteers to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Massachusetts.
Kara Kennedy (right) is among the UMMS students volunteering at the large-scale COVID-19 vaccination site at Worcester State University.
The Vaccine Corps began with Medical School faculty and students supporting the equitable distribution of vaccine to vulnerable populations and has been expanded in partnership with Commonwealth Medicine, the consulting and operations division of UMass Medical School. More than 1,800 volunteers have registered through the Vaccine Corps to volunteer at vaccination sites in a variety of roles. Trained and licensed volunteers and medical and
UMass Medical School students among volunteers at opening of Worcester’s first large-scale vaccine site By Jim Fessenden and Bryan Goodchild
UMass Medical School Communications February 17, 2021
Volunteers from the UMass Medical School Vaccine Corps were among the health care providers administering shots to eligible patients at the public opening of Worcester’s first large-scale COVID-19 vaccination site at Worcester State University on Tuesday, Feb. 16. A Worcester partnership, the site is supported by UMass Medical School; Commonwealth Medicine, the health care consulting and operations division of the Medical School; clinical partner Saint Vincent Hospital; Worcester State University; and the City of Worcester.
UMass Medical School announces partnership in large-scale COVID-19 vaccination site in Worcester
UMass Medical School Communications February 04, 2021
UMass Medical School, in partnership with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the City of Worcester, Worcester State University and Saint Vincent Hospital, will play an integral role in a COVID-19 large-scale vaccination site that will open later this month on the campus of Worcester State. The site is expected to be open on or about February 16.
City Manager Edward Augustus and Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty were joined by Worcester Public Health Medical Director Michael Hirsh, MD, Saint Vincent Hospital CEO Carolyn Jackson and UMMS Executive Vice Chancellor for Commonwealth Medicine Lisa M. Colombo in announcing this complex and strategic team effort to organize, establish, staff and manage a vaccination site that, when fully operational, will administer as many as 2,000 vaccinations per day.
We Need a Dedicated COVID Vaccine Corps. Why Not an Intergenerational One? | Opinion
By Gerald Bourne and Phyllis Segal
On 01/08/21 at 4:49 PM EST
If the COVID vaccine is to liberate us, we urgently need new ways to deliver it. Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) recently proposed enlisting retired medical professionals. Just a few days later, University of Massachusetts leaders Dr. Michael Collins and Martin Meehan, formerly a seven-term Democratic Congressman, called for a Vaccine Corps made up of college students and recent graduates.
Both are great ideas. Even better: Let s combine them, bring retired health care workers and young adults together, and create an intergenerational service corps that can quickly and efficiently vaccinate millions of Americans.