FAIRGROUNDS HOSTS VACCINATION EVENT
“The Redwood Empire Fairgrounds has served the county so many times—so many I cannot count—during emergency situations in which I have personally participated over the past 22 years,” says CEO Jennifer Seward.
With the June and August fairs cancelled as well as live race car events with spectators and regular weekend rental of their buildings, the Fairgrounds has seen a dramatic decrease in revenue requiring them to cut back costs and staffing.
Seward, explaining that the Fairgrounds has, over the years, been run as a business, says they have always planned for a potential financial crisis and despite the difficulties of the past months, they have been able to maintain multiple revenue streams that include four schools on their site—a preschool, Redwood Academy, Accelerated Achievement, and the Tree of Life Charter School—an RV park that accommodated PG&E workers during the fires; car racing without spectators; and the rental of the recently remodeled fair manager’s house on State Street now being utilized by a local business.
However, Mendocino County has been their biggest partner during the pandemic with their facilities being used for COVID testing that began in late May and vaccination clinics that are now up and running at Carl Purdy Hall.
On Monday evening (Jan. 11) at 8 p.m., Bekkie Emery, the county’s Department Operations Center Manager for the COVID 19 Response, received an email from the state approving 2,400 Moderna vaccines for Mendocino County with an agreement that they be administered by Friday, Jan. 15.
The vaccines were ordered immediately initiating a collaboration to ensure that all of the vaccines be administered that week.
In addition, Mendocino County received 1,400 first doses of Moderna to partner with local clinics and administer during the week, as well. Many clinic partners increased their orders and held events to help vaccinate people within Phase 1a Tiers, 1-3 as well as now into Phase 1b Tier 1.
Ongoing clinics for people within Phase 1a, Tiers l-3 include those in emergency medical services, skilled nursing facilities, correctional facility hospitals, home health care, the public health field staff, primary care clinics, labs and dental offices.
Those now being vaccinated in Phase 1b, Tier 1 include individuals 75 years and older and those who work in education and childcare, emergency services and food and agriculture.
“This is an incredibly fluid situation and the county has to abide by state regulations as to who gets the vaccine and when,” says Seward.
Partners in these events include the City of Ukiah, Redwood Empire Fair, MCOE, Ukiah Unified, Fort Bragg Unified, Mendocino Community Health Clinic, Anderson Valley Health Clinic, Redwood Coast Medical Services, Long Valley Health Clinic, Baechtel Creek Clinic, Adventist Health, Supervisor Williams and Coastal Valleys, as well as many other partners.
“This is a tremendous effort with many people working to make these events a success and ensure that we are supporting our community; it’s these partnerships that we have in a small community that have made this all possible.
“While we have not been able to get to everyone in our community yet, we are working as quickly as possible to ensure that we will, as soon as possible,” says Emery.
On Wednesday the county held its first mass vaccination event at the Fairgrounds with 492 people receiving a first dose;
those clinics continued on Thursday and Friday utilizing over 1200 doses.
(An event was held at Adventist on Friday, the 15th, and another will take place on Wednesday, the 20th, at the Mendocino Coast Clinic in Fort Bragg.)
With such a short timeline, information was disseminated as quickly as possible on social media and through radio and press releases and on Wednesday morning several hundred people were lined up ahead of time at Carl Purdy.
Seward and her team facilitated handing out cards early-on to attendees, letting them know they could return on Thursday.
“We all need to remember that this is a pandemic, a time nobody has ever lived through, and we’re trying our best, maybe with a bit of trial and error. It may not seem like it, but with a county-wide community of 86,000, the vaccine is moving at a very rapid pace here,” says Seward.
“By Friday, the 15th, 10 per cent of those who are eligible will have been vaccinated,” says Emery.
Vaccines are allocated from the state to the county via four different channels: through the local health department; through multicounty entities that cover Lake, Mendocino and Napa Counties; through Indian Health Services that allocates vaccines to Consolidated Tribal Health and Round Valley Indian Health; and through a federal contract with Walgreens and CVS pharmacies that vaccinate at skilled nursing facilities and long-term facilities.
Those coming to the clinic need to be aware that patience is required as well as a lawn chair, a snack and perhaps an umbrella. For the elderly, it is advisable for a younger person to accompany them in line or for them to wait in the car while someone holds their place in line.
The processing inside can take up to 40 minutes with an initial confirmation of identification and registration followed by group seating. (all surfaces need to be sanitized in between). After receiving the vaccination, the wait is 15 minutes to ensure there are no adverse reactions.
“I think it will take 9 months to vaccinate all those who are eligible in the county,” says Emery.