Time is of the essence expanding the Antelope Valley vaccine sites

As a nation, we went through a lot of denial on any precision about how lethal, how dangerous, what was the level of hazard involved with the COVID-19 virus and then before a year had passed, more than a half million people were dead.

Still, there was denial and anger and all this happened because the issue became deeply politicized and was wielded as a weapon of politics in the most divided election this country has seen since the Civil War.

Now, the year has passed and whatever the political convictions, disbelief or deeply held belief might be, there is more than a glimmer of hope on the horizon.

The hope is in the mass administration of vaccinations as soon as possible, to get as many people in this divided nation vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Then, whatever the unknowable unfolds, it opens the door to what will come next and no matter your conviction or belief, it is reasonable to hope it will be better.

I saw that reasonable hope unfolding this past week at the clinic where I work at High Desert Medical Group. A little over a year ago, I was seeing patients on a regular basis, in small consulting rooms and fairly close contact. I would be called in to meet with them and together we would work to assess whether the patient had immediate mental health challenges or social needs, that could be assessed to get the help needed.

The world turned upside down and it has been difficult to meet with anyone within arm’s reach for a year.

For weeks, I lamented in writing about the lack of mass vaccination opportunities for people living in the Antelope Valley.

Within the past week, vaccination opportunities have been popping up like poppies in spring in the Antelope Valley. Like poppies, you need the right conditions for them to bloom. It is still not as easy as it should be, but it is getting better daily.

I witnessed this the past week when I was able to assist a 98-year-old World War II veteran in getting his first vaccination at High Desert Medical Group.

I am writing this at his express permission because Lou Moore has a story he wants to share with the world. Thus, I am not bound by the usual patient confidentiality restrictions. Mr. Moore gave me permission.

“I want to be able to do public speaking appearances about the book I have written about my wife Nellie,” Lou told me.

He is the author of a short, lively memoir titled “Eternal Love,” about his nearly 75 years of marriage to the bride he courted as soon as he arrived home from the great World War II, history’s most catastrophic conflict. The book can be purchased on Amazon.

Here’s a thing about World War II and death. The United States sustained fewer than a half million combat deaths of our troops. The United States has lost more than a half million people — many of them elderly — to COVID-19. Some were my friends and veteran comrades.

Lou Moore wants to live a bit longer in order to share the story of love and overcoming adversity that he and his wife shared together. Lou is Chinese-American and faced a lot of prejudice during his service in the armed forces, a war to vanquish Nazi racist tyranny and brutal imperialism from the Empire of Japan. His wife faced prejudice as a Japanese-American, her family interned with tens of thousands of others in “relocation centers” that have come to be recognized as, yes, prison camps, even concentration camps.

Lou wants to share their story and as he relates, “I am 98 years old. Time is of the essence.”

We can all have lives of purpose, no matter how advanced our age, even with the calendar stalking us daily.

What really inspired me as we got Lou in line for the shot he earned with wartime service and simple survival, is that vaccination opportunities are opening in the Antelope Valley. My clinic is vaccinating 200 eligible patients a day, a thousand a week — and that is progress.

Meanwhile, other opportunities are expanding at the AV Fairgrounds, at local pharmacies and community clinics, at drivein sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and Kern County. That means hope and that means more opportunities for simple survival.

As Lou Moore stated, “Time is of the essence.”