Retirement community begins seeing relief from COVID-19

Nearly 100 percent of independent living residents at Woodland Pond receive their first doses of the vaccine

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. » By late Sunday afternoon, 220 independent living residents and 40 personal caregivers at the Woodland Pond retirement community had received the first of two doses of their COVID-19 vaccines at the Institute for Family Health, President and CEO Michelle Gramoglia said.

“It went off without a hitch,” Gramoglia said of the two-day vaccination effort that was organized in a private collaboration with the Institute for Family Health in New Paltz. She said employees of the Family Health Institute were “professional and caring. It was a huge success. … It really has been remarkable.”

There were no negative side effects seen at Woodland Pond, Gramoglia said, “beyond a little bit of a sore arm.” Just in case, she said Woodland Pond’s “wellness RN” was on hand overnight on Saturday and would be available through the night on Sunday to handle any complications.

All of Woodland Pond’s independent living residents qualify for phase 1B of the vaccine distribution and 99 percent of them opted to be vaccinated, Gramoglia said. The Institute will provide the Moderna vaccine at no cost, although a $10 per person administration fee may be billed through insurance, she said.

The second dose is already in stock, she said.

Gramoglia said residents of Woodland Pond, who have been “in lock down for 10 months” were relieved to get their first doses. “It was like a gift for them,” she said. “Our goal is to be able to open the dining room” and allow the resumption of card games, bridge games, community meetings and visits just as soon as residents have received their second shots and have established immunity.

As of Sunday, Gramoglia said Woodland Pond had already vaccinated 99 percent of its skilled nursing residents and more than 100 of its 225 staff members.

Next week’s plan is to vaccinate the assisted living population, and Gramoglia said 99 percent of that community has agreed to participate.

Residents of Woodland Pond’s skilled nursing, assisted living and staff members were vaccinated through a federal government partnership with the CVS Corp. and have already received the Pfizer vaccine on site, Gramoglia said, adding that that operation also “worked seamlessly” and was “really well-run.”

In an email to residents sent Saturday, Gramoglia wrote, “This is such a huge undertaking. Getting 260 retirees and approved caregivers to an offsite location safely, many of which do not drive, and then vaccinated! ...

“I have said repeatedly this week that we would know by 11:30 today if this was a challenge too great for us all. I have tears rolling down my cheeks thinking about what is being accomplished. It’s calm, it’s orderly, it’s optimistic. A million ‘thank you’s’ will never be enough.”

By the numbers

The Ulster and Dutchess County COVID-10 dashboards on Sunday reported a total of nine additional deaths from the virus and nearly 400 new cases.

Ulster reported one death, bringing the county’s total fatalities since March to 174. In Dutchess there were eight deaths reported, bringing the county’s total fatalities to 298.

Ulster also reported 91 new cases of the virus, bringing the total number of active cases to 2,306. In Dutchess County, an additional 208 cases reported on Sunday brought the county’s caseload up to 2,370 from a day earlier.

Since the start of the pandemic in March, Ulster County has had 8,179 confirmed cases of COVID and Dutchess has had 16,115.

Ulster’s positivity rate was at 5.3 percent on Sunday, out of 1,718 residents tested; Dutchess reported a seven-day rolling average positivity rate of 8.78 percent.

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