January 13, 2021
‘A light at the end of the tunnel’
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Photos courtesy CenterPointe Hospital Employees from Weldon Springs’ CenterPointe Hospital received the first round of the COVID-19 vaccinations last week. (Left) Reva Faber, Program Manager at CenterPointe hospital was the first employee to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. (Right) Casey Downey, a RN at CenterPointe hospital, was the second staff member to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.
First rounds of COVID-19 vaccine are now being distributed to health care workers and people in long-term care facilities in St. Charles County By Brett Auten Safer. More secure. Total exhilaration. Those were some of the feelings last week at Weldon Spring’s CenterPointe Hospital as staff received the first round of the COVID-19 vaccine. “They feel that there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Sheila Hunt, Regional Director of Business Development for CenterPointe, said. “It relieves some of the stress and worry about this pandemic.” CenterPointe staff fall into the Phase 1A category of COVID vaccine administration protocol, which includes direct patient-facing healthcare professionals and individu-
als who live or work in long-term care facilities. Next, but with no set date in site, will be the Phase 1B category which includes, first responders and frontline essential employees supporting critical infrastructure operations, residential care facility residents, assisted living facility residents, and individuals ages 75 and older. In all, around 200 staff members at CenterPointe will be vaccinated. Staff safety has been paramount at CenterPointe since the pandemic began. Recognizing that COVID-19 testing would not be available elsewhere for their staff who were not symptomatic, CenterPointe made the deci-
sion early during the pandemic to obtain COVID-19 tests on their own so that they could test those staff who were not symptomatic but had likely exposure, which helped them to identify staff with the virus that otherwise would have gone undetected. “The health and safety of our patients and staff continue to be our highest priority,” Dr. Azfar Malik, Chief Medical Officer at CenterPointe Hospital, said. “We are immensely grateful for our CenterPointe staff and all healthcare professionals around the See ‘LIGHT’ page 2
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