LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — There hasn’t been much to celebrate inside Kentucky’s long-term care facilities over the last ten months, so even something as routine as a vaccination is cause for celebrations.
Staff members at Lexington’s Sayre Christian Village assisted living center applauded, as two residents made their way down the hallway to the nurse’s station to receive the first of their two COVID-19 vaccine doses.
“One of the things we do is we kind of adopt these folks as family members, and that includes hugging them, or comforting them,” said Marie Wilson of Sayre Christian Village. “That’s probably been one of the hardest things (about COVID-19)."
Libby Geddes and John Donovan were the first assisted living residents to receive the vaccine.
“Next year should be much better after what we went through the past year,” she said before rolling up her sleeve.
As that was going on this morning, the gymnasium inside Lexington’s Consolidated Baptist Church on Russell Cave Road was being converted to a vaccine clinic.
“We’re getting them on Monday, and they’re going into people's arms on Wednesday,” said Kevin Hall of the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. The department will continue to partner with providers, like pharmacies to get as many people inoculated as possible over the coming weeks and months.
Hall said about 1,800 front-line workers would receiver their first round of the two-round coronavirus immunization series on Wednesday.
Members of the Lexington fire department, many of whom are trained EMS personnel, are helping administer the shots here. After one is given at the Health Department’s event, workers are on-site to enter each name into a national database, which is tracking those who’ve been vaccinated.
