Comanche County Memorial Hospital has finished its first round of COVID-19 vaccinations for health care professionals. Heather Love, the Director of Safety and Risk Management at CCMH, said hospital staff signed up to get the shot at the hospital this past Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
“We have five different stations set up, and we are vaccinating people every 15 minutes,” Love said.
Jennifer Renner, a nurse at CCMH and the Director of Surgical Services, got hers Thursday morning.
“I feel great,” Renner said. “Actually, it hurt way less than the flu vaccine did. So, far my arm feels fine. I have no symptoms or anything. I’m an asthmatic, so I’m hoping this will prevent me from getting COVID.”
Renner said she was on the fence about getting it, but after reading about it and losing a close friend because of the coronavirus, she decided to get the shot.
“Her loss really brought it home,” she said. “I had friends that had COVID that had done fine and recovered with no problem, but losing Carrie made it more personal, and so it really kinda solidified my decision to do what I could to protect not just myself but my family. I have two children at home, and I didn’t want to bring it home.”
Love said it’s been great seeing staff get vaccinated.
“You can see the hope in people’s eyes…kinda a different light,” she said. “Hopefully, this is going to turn this situation around or at least enable us to get on top of it a little bit better.”
Love said she’s proud of how the staff has taken care of COVID patients and how well they’ve handled the changing parameters as they’ve learned more about the virus.
“But to know that they’re going to have this vaccine now, to add on to the PPE that we provide for them and give them an extra layer of safety is going to help us all sleep better at night,” she said.
Those who got the vaccine in the first round will need their second shot during the first week in January.