9 minute read
COVID-19 vaccines
A SHOT OF HOPE
Pharmacists have always played an important role in disease prevention, and challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic have underscored their key role in vaccinations and primary care, allowing them to practice at the top of their license as the profession continues to transform.
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Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy was instrumental in the vaccination of the Appalachian Highlands – from the first doses administered to health care workers to ongoing efforts to curb the spread of the virus.
ETSU Health COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic
While the country was still eagerly awaiting the COVID-19 vaccine last November, ETSU Health leaders began having conversations about how the university could be part of the vaccine administration efforts in our region.
The result of those conversations was the ETSU Health COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic, which began in March 2021. As of August 2021, the clinic had administered more than 2,200 vaccines throughout the community.
“Our approach from the beginning was for ETSU Health to provide the vaccine in ways that other providers were not doing, such as offering vaccine clinics after hours and on weekends,” said Dr. Adam Welch, Associate Dean for Assessment and Academic Affairs and Associate Professor at Gatton College of Pharmacy.
“We offered the Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine, which was appealing to many people because it only requires one dose. We also had interpreters and materials printed in Spanish so that the information about the vaccine was more accessible to a greater number of patients.”
Welch and Dr. Leigh Johnson, a physician who at that time served as director of ETSU’s COVID-19 Response, were awarded a $1.1 million sub-award contract from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Tennessee Department of Health to establish the ETSU Health COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic.
With help from ETSU administration, facilities, the health sciences colleges, and the Washington County Health Department, Welch and Johnson organized and opened the first ETSU Health vaccine clinic at ETSU’s Millennium Center.
“When we began, we were administering 200-300 vaccines at every clinic,” Welch said. “We had a wonderful response from our community.” Dozens of students, faculty, and staff from ETSU’s health sciences colleges volunteered hundreds of hours to distribute the vaccine.
“These clinics have been a masterful display of interprofessional, team-based care,” Welch said. “You can see that health care team in action during our clinics when you have a combination of students and faculty taking care of the same patient in different parts of the process – from providing education to preparing and administering the vaccine to observing the patient for any adverse effects.”
Scan to watch ETSU Health impact
The ETSU Health COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic continued to find ways to reach a broader audience, including hosting vaccine clinics in ETSU’s D.P. Culp Student Center during new student orientations throughout the summer.
In addition to its on-campus clinics, ETSU Health partnered with Ballad Health and First Tennessee Development District’s Take a Shot on Life campaign. This mobile vaccination campaign took the vaccines to area churches, festivals, and other locations to make them accessible and convenient to more people.
“As we moved into the fall semester, ETSU Health continued to do their part to protect the health and safety of the region,” Welch said. “As for the role that Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy has played in these efforts, I continue to be impressed and even humbled by the eagerness of our students and faculty to do their part to fight the pandemic.”
Community partnerships
Community has always been part of Gatton College of Pharmacy’s DNA. Founded in 2005 from the community uniting in a common purpose to collectively raise up a pharmacy school to train student pharmacists of this region, it is no surprise that the college has continued to give back whenever possible and work with local community pharmacies.
When COVID-19 hit, one of the first ways the college served was to help organize a mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic at First Baptist Church in Greeneville, Tennessee, on Saturday, March 6, helping administer over 500 vaccines in partnership with local independent community pharmacies Atchley’s Drug Center, Corley’s Pharmacy, and Corley’s Pharmacy Solutions, all located in the Greeneville area.
The college volunteered over 150 hours at the Greeneville event.
Scan to watch community impact
Dr. Emily Flores, Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, said this event was both an incredible learning experience as well as service opportunity.
“Our students are getting to work alongside those really impressive pharmacists and their teams while also helping this really important public health piece that pharmacists have come to the center of right now,” said Flores, who is helping to spearhead the college’s vaccination efforts in the community.
Jonathan Brewster (’22), from Kingsport, helped triage patients as they came to the event.
“There are a lot of people who come in who haven’t left their house in a year now and are really excited to get the vaccine and get some semblance of normalcy back, despite everything that’s going on,” said Brewster. “Just getting that vaccine out there and protecting the public has been a really good experience.”
Dr. Jeff Ward, partner at Corley’s Pharmacy and a graduate in Gatton’s inaugural class, said the rural service component was a critical part of this event.
“This is why I went to pharmacy school,” said Ward. “We want to help the people here.”
Dr. Alan Corley, owner of Corley’s Pharmacy and Corley’s Pharmacy Solutions, helped organize the event and praised the role community pharmacies are playing in this pandemic.
Greeneville COVID-19 clinic stats:
150+ hours served 500+ vaccines administered
“Health care is kind of like government. The closer it is to the people, the better it works and the more effective it is,” said Corley, who has been a major supporter of the college since its founding in 2005. “Local community pharmacies are an important part of that. We get to know our patients, we know their families. . . . I think the trust we build up with our patients helps in an event like this. That may be another reason people would rather come to a local pharmacy or to this type of event where local pharmacies are because they know the people there guiding the process.”
Student impact
Dr. Emily Flores (left), Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, and Dr. Jessica Brumit, who graduated in Spring 2021, help prepare vaccines at one of the first ETSU Health COVID-19 vaccine events.
ETSU student pharmacists and faculty fanned out across the region to vaccinate as many patients as they could, assisting with the administration of more than 29,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and volunteering over 2,500 hours in the community since December 2020.
Class of 2021 vaccinated 10,000+ patients
The college served at independent pharmacies, grocery stores, assisted living facilities, hospitals, and health departments from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Hillsville, Virginia.
Together, faculty and student pharmacists assisted in administering the vaccine, while students helped additionally by preparing and documenting doses of the vaccine.
“When the COVID-19 pandemic first started, my first thought was how can I help?” said Estefany Nunez (’22), of Brownsville, Texas. “From then on, I have been involved in COVID-19 vaccination efforts in community and independent pharmacies, with ETSU Health, and with local health departments in South Texas, Tennessee and Virginia. My roles included drawing up vaccines, vaccinating, counseling, and assisting patients in filling out vaccine forms.”
Nunez traveled to Texas for spring break in March but could not return to Tennessee due to the pandemic. She said the state had one of the highest death rates because of a lack of resources to manage the pandemic. During the summer, she served as an intern in a community pharmacy as the pandemic raged in her hometown of Brownsville, Texas.
“All my training in pharmacy school prepared me for this, such as utilizing interprofessional communication skills with local doctors to team up to provide low cost medical services for underserved patients or providing counseling for COVID-19 during peak crisis. Many of my patients said pharmacists were the only ones they could access easily over the phone for guidance.”
“The Gatton spirit of community and service would follow me wherever I was called to help.”
Dr. Jessica Brumit, who graduated in Spring 2021 and is currently completing an acute care PGY1 residency at Johnson City Medical Center (JCMC), made a huge impact on COVID-19 through a variety of ways.
During an ambulatory care rotation at Holston Medical Group, she was able to help with transitions of care phone calls with COVID-19 positive patients.
Served 2,500+ hours in vaccine distribution
“I helped make sure the patients understood their discharge instructions, checked on how they
Estefany Nunez (‘22), of Brownsville, Texas, vaccinates a patient in her hometown.
were doing, and ensured they were remaining in isolation,” said Brumit, who is from Elizabethton.
However, she also witnessed the devastation wrought by the virus.
“What stood out to me most in these interactions was the loneliness and isolation these patients were experiencing, making these often brief conversations still so valuable to these patients.”
Brumit said that while completing a critical care rotation at JCMC in November 2020, she was impacted both personally and professionally.
“While I was personally focusing on non-COVID positive patients, I witnessed first-hand the severity of this illness and the toll it took on the interprofessional teams,” said Brumit. “I was inspired by the cohesiveness of the critical care team and the crucial role that my preceptor, Dr. Jennifer Tharp, played in the therapeutics for COVID positive patients.”
Her next rotation in January 2021 was at Franklin Woods Community Hospital and brought things full circle.
“On my second day of rotation we began supplying the COVID-19 vaccine to Ballad’s first community Point of Dispensing (POD) for individuals 75+ years old,” said Brumit. “Throughout this rotation I was given the opportunity to manage the vaccine supply for the POD. A typical day began by evaluating the schedule to estimate the day’s demand. After preparing several batches in the morning, I would deliver the doses to the POD. This was repeated throughout the day while communicating closely with the POD leader and nurses to ensure we had adequate
- Estefany Nunez (’22)
supply at the POD without having vaccine expire. I helped manage our inventory from day-to-day to have sufficient vaccine on-site for each day’s clinic. Over the course of the month the POD was able to administer over 4,600 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Seeing the excitement on these vulnerable individuals' faces made this the most rewarding experience I have had thus far.”
Since that rotation, Brumit was able to volunteer at a few community pharmacies and at numerous ETSU Health vaccine clinics. “Throughout all these experiences I have been most inspired by the joint effort of the organizations and individuals in our community,” said Brumit. “I hope to continue to contribute to this, along with others in our community, so we keep optimizing our health care.”
Brumit hopes to complete a PGY2 in either critical care or cardiology with a long-term goal to practice in one of these specialties serving patients in the Tri-Cities region.Assisted with 29,000+ COVID-19 vaccines
