Keystone Rural Health Consortia offering COVID-19 vaccinations
Keystone Rural Health is currently scheduling appointments for those eligible for receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at many of their locations in the region, including the office located at 49 Ridgmont Drive (Behind the North Central building) in Ridgway.
For those not aware or affiliated with Keystone Rural Heath, they were founded in Emporium in 1976 and have now expanded throughout Northern and Central Pennsylvania with medical offices in Emporium, Snow Shoe, and Ridgway, along with four dental offices, in Emporium, Fox
Township, Kane and in Johnsonburg. They deliver a full range of services, including testing for COVID-19 and antibodies, and are now offering the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Patients of Keystone and non-patients are welcome to apply for vaccine appointments
on their website at keystoneruralhealth. com. Keystone follows all guidelines for vaccine distribution, and currently, eligible categories are listed on the electronic form.
At the Cameron County Medical center, eligible applicants were given an appointment time to arrive at the medical center. Once they arrived, they called the office and were escorted inside to a sterile room to fill out the required paperwork. Once completed, they received their shots, and the staff started a 15-minute timer after each patient received their inoculation. Nicia McAulary and Trae
Smith answered patients' questions and engaging in small talk while monitoring those who had received shots. The Cameron County location is open on Mondays. Wednesdays and Fridays for vaccine distribution and can handle between 60-90 inoculations a day. They reported that they had not seen any adverse reactions initially after receiving the shots for any of the patients they had seen over the past few months. The patient was given a second appointment 28 days later, along with a full list of instructions. The process took about a half-hour, less than the drive to Emporium.