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Weekly hillcountryweekly.com
Thursday, January 7
COVID-19
VACCINATIONS
Moderna comes to My Urgent Care and Kronkosky Place
Christina Ryrholm Hill Country Weekly
On Monday morning of this week the Kronkosky Place was bustling with activity for the first time in many months. As the home of the Rainbow Senior Center, it is has long been the hub of activities and meals for the seniors of Kendall County. With the COVID 19 pandemic and out of an abundance of caution the Center has been forced to be creative in ways to provide a limited range of services. This need to adapt to unexpected changes was paramount last week when Olivia Burdick, Executive Director, was asked if Kronkosky Place would be able to handle 400 people to receive doses of COVID 19 Moderna vaccinations. Within four days plans were in place for Kronkosky Place, My Urgent Care, the county and city to send out the information through social media and robo calls at 9 a.m. Sunday January 3. The database alone for Kronkosky was over 6000 names. There were over 5000 calls within three hours and by noon that day all 400 doses had
been accounted for. The vaccination marathon took place on Monday January 4. My Urgent Care on River Road, as of now, is the only medical care facility that went through the “long and arduous process to fill out the detailed application” and to purchase the two data loggers (one is a backup) that records the temperatures of the refrigeration”. Tamara Perry, Clinic Manager, commented that Dr. John Turner, owner of the clinic, felt it was important to go through the certification process to give back to the community. One reason that Kronkosky was asked to participate in the vaccination effort was because of their ability to reach out to the senior citizens and that they have a large enough facility to handle a greater volume in a single day. Each vaccine vial contains ten doses and once one dose is given the vial is viable for six hours. With four stations operating simultaneously 40 individuals could be vaccinated every half hour. Not all the seniors that received the first dose also participate in the food distribution
offered by Kronkosky, but Olivia said that it was important to vaccinate both the Meals on Wheels drivers and the seniors the receive the meals in order for there to be personal interaction between the individuals. The isolation and the lack of socialization has taken a “devastating toll” on many of the seniors. Although it is important to take care of the basic need of nutrition the lack of human contact is just as necessary to address. The Meals on Wheels program delivers to 250 people every day Monday through Friday and if needed also leave frozen meals for weekends and holidays. Approximately 70,000 meals were served this year. The actual allocation of the vaccinations is handled at the state level by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). After My Urgent Care was notified of the allocated 1000 doses and they accepted that amount is was a wait until they were informed that the shipment was on the way. After this notification is made then the vaccine will arrive frozen within 24 hours.
Each vial holds ten doses that must be used within six hours of the first dose given.
Then it has to be thawed in the refrigeration unit and is good for up to thirty days. Locally the shipment arrived on December 28 and was fully dispensed by today, January 7. Besides the 400 senior citizens, all first responders and many medical staff who wished be vaccinated have received their first dose. The Olivia Burdick, Executive Director second dose will be given in Kronkosky Place, over saw 30 days and My Urgent Care Operation 400 Doses that were has already been notified and given to seniors and volunteers accepted that allocation. on Monday January 4. Both Olivia and Tamara knew that the response to the availability would be a large number but were amazed at the overwhelming demand for the vaccinations. Both places were working procedures out as they went along and realize the need to be able to reach out to everyone - even those that do not have access to social media. The best way to stay informed about COVID and the availabilClinic Manager for My Urgent ity of the vaccine is through the Care Tamara Perry leads the team Facebook pages for Kronkosky that is vaccinating Kendall County Place and My Urgent Care and residents in the first of two doses of Moderna. the county and city websites.
