Volunteers make vaccination effort a possibility

As of Sunday afternoon, 23,047 Hancock County residents had received at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. That's more vaccinations than Hancock Public Health and Blanchard Valley Health System personnel could reasonably give out in a short span of time, given their many other duties, but about 130 volunteers are helping with the effort. The Medical Reserve Corps consists of volunteers, most of them medical professionals, ready to be called up in an emergency to address medical needs. The Hancock County volunteers have been activated to assist local residents at Red Cross shelters during floods, fires and the derecho of 2012. Nationally, the need for a Medical Reserve Corps became apparent after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when "thousands of medical and public health professionals, eager to volunteer in support of emergency relief activities," found no organized way to do so, according to the Department of Health and Human Services website on the topic. Hancock County's corps officially formed in 2008, although it was a loose-knit group at first. When the H1N1 flu pandemic happened in 2009, these volunteers were put to work. Near the end of 2020, Hancock Public Health Director of Health Promotion and Planning Chad Masters emailed corps members to say the health department would be calling on them in the near future to help vaccinate the community against COVID-19. Separately, many new people contacted the health department wanting to help during the pandemic. "It snowballed from there," Masters said, saying that once people got signed up, they then got their friends signed up as well. Masters has a list of about 130 people in the corps. They include nurses, physicians, dentists and an optometrist, among others. Lending a helping hand On the recommendation of a Medical Reserve Corps coordinator from another part of the state, Hancock Public Health is using SignUpGenius to register volunteers. Masters said the program makes it easy for him to say that, for example, he needs three vaccinators on a particular day. It sends an alert to members of the corps, who can get a push notification on their phone. So, Masters said, often before he has even sent out an email asking for volunteers, people who got the push notification contact him wanting to sign up for a slot. Dr. Tyler Fields, a veterinarian at Blanchard Valley Veterinary Clinic, said he registered for the Medical Reserve Corps because everyone is ready to move on from the pandemic, and this is one way to help. He said it feels "really rewarding." He said it is the norm to step outside what he's used to, as there may be days he sees a species of animal he has never seen before. Timothy Burkart, Pharm.D., assistant professor of pharmacy at the University of Findlay, knew of the Medical Reserve Corps through other faculty members. UF pharmacy students have been helping to administer the vaccine, and Burkart has been working with Hancock Public Health to coordinate these volunteers. His work in the corps has also ranged from drawing up doses of vaccine, to administering shots, to observing patients afterward. Some of the volunteers aren't medical professionals at all. They can't give vaccinations, but volunteers are also needed to get patients registered when they come in to get their shots. Jennifer Denike at first thought she wasn't qualified to be in the Medical Reserve Corps as "I don't have any letters behind my name," like MD or RN. But a long time ago, she worked as a registration clerk at an emergency room. When Denike realized the health department needed a lot of volunteers, she decided to sign up. Now a stay-at-home mother, Denike said volunteering keeps her busy and is rewarding. Susan Roberts' son is an emergency room doctor in New York City, and hearing of his experiences is part of what led her and her husband to want to get involved in the fight against COVID-19. Roberts, who has no medical background, and her husband, an orthodontist, both register people as they arrive at clinics. Their daughter and some friends have also gotten involved. The job of registering includes greeting the person as they come in, giving them forms to fill out if they haven't brought them with them, and checking that they are feeling OK that day. They are given a vaccination card and told the date and time of their next appointment, and Roberts checks their ID. 'Extremely rewarding' Masters said the health department had to put together the mass vaccination event at the University of Findlay's Koehler Center on March 13 "in a matter of a few days," first learning that the vaccine doses would be available and then making sure they could use UF's facility. He drew upon his experience with the H1N1 flu pandemic, which also involved mass clinics. Masters said organizing it was a lot of work but "it was extremely rewarding." And, he said, they couldn't have done it without the volunteers. At the Koehler Center vaccination event, Fields recalled being "a little bit apprehensive" since he had given injections many times before, but not to humans. He said it was after he gave people their shot that he'd say, to break the ice, "OK, is now the time I tell you that I'm a veterinarian?" People getting their shots told him about planning a vacation, or wanting to visit their elderly parents. He realized it wasn't just about giving a shot — "it's recreating connections." Roberts described helping at the clinic at the Koehler Center as "awesome." Burkart shared similar feelings about the vaccine rollout to this point. "It's been awesome so far," he said of the experience, adding that patients are "so excited" to be getting the vaccine. Denike said people have started to cry at these clinics, because they're so relieved to be getting their vaccination. "Hope is exhilarating," she said. "Hope is intoxicating, and people feel hope." She said one of her favorite questions to ask people is who the first person is that they want to see. "Who do you want to hug? ... Because you are so close to being able to give someone a really good hug," she said. Masters hopes to have a large number of potential volunteers available after this pandemic ends for any future needs that may come up. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Masters at cmasters@hancockph.com Arthurs: 419-427-8494