HEALTH WORKERS GET VACCINATED
Redwood Memorial ER nurse gets first shot at St. Joseph Hospital
Ryan Samuelson received the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 at St. Joseph Health Humboldt in Eureka on Thursday morning. Samuelson, an emergency room nurse at Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna, was joined by his 4-year- old daughter who held his hand during the shot, although he said he’s used to vaccines.
“I really wanted her to see me get the vaccination,” Samuelson said as his daughter clung to his side. “She’s four and her entire year has been dominated by this just like everybody else. I wanted her to be there and see that it was okay.”
Samuelson signed up for the vaccine along with other frontline caregivers. It just so happened that he landed the first slot.
“I did not know I was the first one to get it (among St. Joseph Health workers), but I’m proud to be the first one. It’s been a long road to get here,” Samuelson said. “I’m not normally an emotional guy, but it feels really good to finally see the end of this. There’s been a lot of hardship for a lot of people and it’s changed everyone’s lives. I’m happy to see the beginning of the end and kind of a return to normal.”
As an emergency room nurse, Samuelson said he comes in contact with COVID patients on a daily basis.
“We’re taking care of a lot of sick people, I see COVID positive patients every day,” Samuelson said, underscoring the importance of being one of the first to receive the vaccine in Humboldt County.
“It means a lot.”
Humboldt County received its first shipment of 975 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine on Monday. Phase one of vaccine distribution will focus on frontline health care workers and high-risk populations.
“This is a very exciting day, not only for Humboldt County but across our nation,” said Travis Sewalls, chief medical officer for St. Joseph Health. “This is a real beginning of something that I think is super helpful in the fight against COVID-19.”
Sewalls expected to vaccinate up to 40 employees on Thursday and ramp up to 50-75 vaccinations beginning next week.
St. Joseph Health employees sign up for the vaccine and the hospital uses a tool to assess who receives the vaccine first. Employees can also optout if they choose not to be vaccinated, he said.
“It’s based on the location of your work, the type of work you do, is it high risk and other comorbidities that you could input into the tool,” Sewalls said.
“So, we compiled all that information and we then prioritize our health care workers based on the highest risk first.”
Sewalls said the county will receive another shipment of Pfizer vaccines as early as next week.
“We’ve put in for a Moderna order as well and depending on the FDA approval today with the emergency use authorization, we hope to see those Moderna vaccines next week as well,” Sewalls said.
Sewalls was unable to say when people outside of the health care industry will be able to receive the vaccine locally but said he was encouraged to see how many doses was already been delivered to Humboldt County.
Even as the case count and death toll rises locally, Sewalls acknowledged how fortunate our community has been throughout the pandemic.
“Our level of COVID infections has been much different than that of the nation until a couple of weeks ago when we saw a rise, but the good thing is we started with a much lower number,” he said. “So, from that perspective, that’s been good for us locally. It makes the hospital izations manageable and we currently have enough staff to keep our operations going. So, we’re in good shape and we are def initely prepared for any potential surge.”
That being said, Sewalls emphasized the continued use of masks, social distancing and frequent hand washing. “The vaccine is certainly the next tool to fight the disease, but it’s so critical that we don’t forget the fundamentals are very important as well.”