Kentucky leaders thank frontline health care workers at celebration in Morehead
Governor Beshear and other Kentucky leaders were recognized during a celebration in Morehead Wednesday, where they thanked healthcare workers for their sacrifices throughout the pandemic.
and last updated 2021-07-22 07:56:57-04
MOREHEAD, Ky. (LEX 18) â Gov. Beshear and other Kentucky leaders were recognized during a celebration in Morehead Wednesday, where they thanked health care workers for their sacrifices throughout the pandemic.
Saint Claire HealthCare hosted the event at the Morehead Convention Center, where doctors, nurses, public health officials, and other health care workers from the area met for the evening.
Credit St. Claire HealthCare
St. Claire HealthCare (SCH) announces the addition of Wendy Lykins, APRN, to its medical staff. Wendy is now accepting new patients at the St. Claire Family Medicine Sandy Hook location where she joins Aaron Banks, DO, and Megan McDowell, APRN.
“I’ve always really enjoyed helping people, so I’ve always known I wanted to be a nurse,” says Wendy
. “I remember telling my mom early on that I wanted to be a nurse. I’m really happy that I stuck with that decision.”
Wendy finds that the most rewarding thing about her career is serving the people of rural Eastern Kentucky, where she calls home.
Credit St. Claire HealthCare
St. Claire HealthCare (SCH) is proud to announce the addition of emergency medicine physician Benjamin Mattingly, MD, to its medical staff.
Growing up in Morehead, Dr. Mattingly never planned to become a doctor. He had considered becoming a professor like his father, but medicine certainly wasn’t in his plans.
“I didn’t really like hospitals growing up … I didn’t like the way they smelled,” he said.
Somehow his wife, Jenni, a physician assistant, got him to reconsider medicine. She suggested he shadow a few physicians to see what it was all about. He got past the ‘hospital smell,’ took her up on her advice, and found himself on a career path that would lead him to the highest peaks in the world, but more about that later.
Credit Pfizer
Saint Claire HealthCare received its first allocation of the Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine this week, just as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded the emergency use to include adolescents as young as 12 years of age.
While SCH has administered at least one dose of the Moderna vaccine to more than 11-thousand patients since January, vaccines were only available to patients 18 and older until now.
SCH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Will Melahn says all residents to be vaccinated as soon as they are able to do so.
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Credit St. Claire HealthCare
St. Claire HealthCare (SCH) recently received the Kentucky Hospital Association (KHA) President’s Service Award for its dedication and perseverance throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While hospitals routinely prepare for emergency events, no one could have anticipated the reality of the past year,” said Nancy C. Galvagni, KHA President
. “This special award of merit recognizes Kentucky hospitals who have been on the front lines leading the way in the fight against COVID-19 and the caregivers who have worked tirelessly to provide compassionate care and to ultimately save lives.”
In addition to meeting the primary, specialty, and emergency care its patients rely on in the midst of a global pandemic, SCH also began serving as a regional COVID-19 testing site in April 2020 and has been providing community vaccinations since January 2021. During that time, SCH has collected specimens for more than 30,000 COVID-19 tests and has administered at lea