Sharon and I are at our final week here at Rosebud. Lots of things have happened in the past 4 weeks – regarding absorption of knowledge/culture/new experiences. However, I wanted to touch upon one specific thing that I was happy to be a part of while here: administering COVID vaccinations to the community of Rosebud! It was public health in action.
So, the last time I administered vaccinations to anyone was at a family medicine clinic during medical school. Sharon and I were ready in no time though, and we participated in 2 full day -8 hr- vaccination events. One was held on MLK day and the other, approximately a week after. The process of vaccinating community members was quite smooth here – two floors were sectioned off and people showed up to get their COVID shots. According to the hospital administrators, approximately 500+ individuals got vaccinated the first day and then 300+ the 2nd day. This local article highlights the successful organization and deployment of the vaccines at Rosebud: the goal is to vaccinate approximately 15,000 tribal members, and the Rosebud hospital and tribe seem to be well on their way to achieve this, due to their successful and collaborative efforts towards vaccination.
I was especially impressed that people showed up, especially
when distances aren’t necessarily close to get to the hospital. It was evident
that the community members wanted to do their due diligence for the public and
their loved ones. Many people showed up with their family members. We were
aware that there was concern about vaccine hesitancy among tribal and community
members (informed by our AmeriCorps team members Caroline and Margaret), but I
think Margaret and Caroline’s messaging and programming worked (one of their
projects was to address vaccine hesitancy in the community), as the turn out
demonstrated otherwise.
When I told my family members in S. Korea that I was
physically vaccinating people, they were surprised that resident doctors &
doctors were the ones vaccinating individuals, but it clearly is an all hands
on deck situation, especially as even the University of Minnesota was asking
for any volunteers willing to administer doses back at home! This article that
outlined how Los Angeles was vaccinating their population through a drive-thru
in a massive stadium was pretty fun and interesting to read as well (the Mayor of
L.A. was helping out too – I was told this was perhaps a political ploy, but
still, heartwarming to see that we are all in it together.)
I read news headlines stating that Joe Biden’s goals of 100 million doses in 100 days was a goal that would, luckily, likely be surpassed. However, there are clearly concerns that the roll out process isn’t uniform or going smoothly in all areas of the United States, and despite 100 million doses, we still have a long way to go. Regardless, it was clear to me, that maybe we were turning a corner with this whole coronavirus business…hopefully!
I'll end with a funny clip of The Terminator getting his shot...#comewithmeifyouwanttolive
https://twitter.com/schwarzenegger/status/1351973032953188352
and some mysterious footprints in the S.Dakota snow...
