Thanks to Village Walk Pharmacy Volunteers!

By Rick Cunningham

As most people know, Jason Conley of the Village Walk Pharmacy has joined with Scott and Amy Pierce of Coastal Care Partners to open a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in The Village. In early February, large numbers of our neighbors answered the call for volunteers. Since then, a group of nearly 60 people have been working shifts every week to keep the clinic running smoothly.

Every shift requires five people to handle the intake process and to keep order to make sure that everyone, including volunteers and clinicians, stays safe. They  match up paperwork for second doses so that the proper vaccine is administered, keep track of the new vaccinations, and screen people to make sure they’re in an eligible group and don’t have a medical reason not to take the vaccine. Another two people per shift are required to handle the job of entering the vaccinations into the Georgia Registry of Immunization Transactions and Services (yes, that’s GRITS) so that there’s a central database of every person along with the details of their  immunization. And finally, volunteers who are doctors or nurses, assist in the vaccination process itself.

Every week, the volunteers staff 70 shifts of three-to-four hours each. This has been ongoing now for six weeks, and most of the volunteers say they’re in it for as long as it takes. On February 26, the clinic passed the milestone of 7,000 vaccinations administered!

Below are the names of the volunteers who helped to make this possible – please say thanks to them when you see them!

  • Ray Arnold
  • Mike Auen
  • Elaine Barrow
  • Marguerite Baxter
  • Julie Begley
  • Marilyn Brady
  • Jan Conners
  • John  Cork
  • Rick Cunningham
  • William Darsney
  • John Duren
  • Susie Fusco
  • Don Gezovich
  • Pat Gezovich
  • Elsie Gonto
  • Paulette Hamilton
  • Nancy Hanson
  • Dr. Steve Heacox
  • Dr. Starr Holland
  • Chris Jones
  • Alison Kelly
  • Kim Kowalski
  • Mary Lambright
  • Helen Lantz
  • Dawn Lowell
  • Dr. Ken May
  • Martha McCarthy
  • Mary Beth McGirr
  • Roni Meikle
  • Peggy Miller
  • Steve Miller
  • Peter Mitchell
  • Sylvia Morrison
  • Karen O'Neill
  • Peggy Pearson
  • Barbara Phillips
  • Ellen Pitts
  • Noreen Powell (Wood)
  • Doug Powelson
  • Lynn Powelson
  • Linda Rakosi
  • Lori Redding
  • Dr. Larry Schmitz
  • Connie Schopfer
  • Dr.  Gary Schopfer
  • Beth Schriefer
  • Jim Scott
  • Carol Shapoff
  • Dr. Cary Shapoff
  • Sue Souls
  • Tom Souls
  • Dr. Rick Tallon
  • Diane Thompson
  • Ann Walker
  • Anne Wasse-Lyon
  • Claire Williams
  • Kathy Wilson
  • Dr. Rudi Wunsch
  • Debbie Wurzel
  • Don Wurzel

If you're eligible for a vaccination and you haven't been able to schedule an appointment, please visit healthyskidaway.com, where you can sign up to receive an email that will notify you in advance when additional appointments are available. Do you have an older neighbor who may be unable to leave their home for a shot, or perhaps doesn't know how to schedule an appointment? It may be possible to schedule a home visit to administer the vaccine. If you know someone who might be in this situation, please send an email to Scott Pierce (scott@coastalcarepartners.com) and he will have someone get in touch with you.

Note: The community transmission index for the island remains in the High Category!

The Coastal Health District has been reporting COVID cases by zip code. New numbers are reported once per week, usually on Monday or Tuesday (for data through the previous Saturday). Below is a graph of  confirmed cases for residents of the 31411 zip code, which represents residents of Skidaway Island, but doesn't include cases among people/visitors who live elsewhere. The new cases per week is an important barometer of what's currently happening on Skidaway Island. As you can see, we have had from eight to 20 new cases per week in the last month. Even though eight or nine seems like a small number, given the size of our population, anything more than five cases per week puts us in the High Category of Community Transmission Index. Please continue to be careful out there!

 



This article was originally published by The Landings Association on their website.

Visit landings.org to read the original article.
https://landings.org/news/2021/02/26/thanks-village-walk-pharmacy-volunteers