Sharon Regional holds vaccine clinic
Feb. 27—SHARON — It may have been cold outside Friday afternoon, but the spirits were much warmer inside the auditorium at Sharon Regional Medical Center's School of Nursing, where senior citizens waited to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Among those administering the shots was Dr. Rebecca Hanigosky, who has a private practice with two other physicians in Hermitage. Hanigosky said Friday had been her day off, but she wanted to volunteer at the clinic since she had the time and she knew there was a demand to be vaccinated.
And the people who turned up starting at 7 a.m. appreciated the effort.
"I've had people tell us how well-run the clinic is, and how glad they were to live in a small town like ours when it came to getting an appointment," Hanigosky said.
The nursing school auditorium had a few vaccination stations where patients could sit socially distanced from each other across the room. This gave patients a chance to sit down before receiving their vaccines and a space where staff could observe them afterward, Dr. David Shellenbarger said.
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TANNER MONDOK — Herald Pat Rettger, a retired RN volunteering at the vaccinantion clinic, left and Dr. Rebecca Hanigosky, a volunteer, prepare COVID-19 vaccines before administering them at Sharon Regional Medical Center.
The clinic is appointment-only, which means potential patients must call and schedule their appointment. Usually appointments are scheduled a week or so in advance, which helps give patients time to arrange transportation to the hospital, said Shellenbarger, chief medical officer at Sharon Regional.
To schedule an appointment, patients can call 724-983-7251 if they qualify to receive a vaccine. Shellenbarger said the arrangement is easier for seniors who don't have access to computers or struggle with technology.
"It's more accessible to everybody," Shellenbarger said.
A call center was recently established by Sharon Regional to handle the volume of calls. Even if patients aren't able to get through immediately, Shellenbarger said hospital staff returned calls from anyone who had to leave a message as soon as possible.
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TANNER MONDOK — Herald A COVID-19 vaccine is prepared to be administered at Sharon Regional Medical Center.
As of Friday, Shellenbarger said the clinic had probably vaccinated about 8,000 people, an average of about 300 people per day — although some days, that figure can rise to about 400 people.
Part of what helps drives those numbers is not just the willingness of the population to get vaccinated, although Shellenbarger said that is a major factor. It's also regular delivery of the Pfizer vaccine, which Sharon Regional receives every two or three days in shipments of 975 doses.
"I think our pharmacist, Jodi Schrader, has done a good job of being efficient and not wasting any of the doses that we receive, which shows that we can be a leader in the community and get those recurring shipments," Shellenbarger said. "We're lucky, because not all places have had that ability."
While Sharon Regional limits patient flow to about a dozen patients in the clinic at a time, it takes about the same number of staff to operate the clinic, from handling registration to administering the vaccines to observing the patients.
To help meet that need, there are some staff who support the clinic, as well as volunteers who come in whenever available. Shellenbarger said he was grateful to all the volunteers who donated their time to help operate the clinic.
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TANNER MONDOK — Herald Cindy Gurska, Sharon Regional Medical Center RN, prepares a COVID-19 vaccine at the hospital in Sharon.
Shellenbarger wasn't the only one sharing his appreciation, as a "Thank You" table — covered with notes filled out by patients happy to have received their doses of the COVID-19 vaccine — sat in the center of the auditorium.
That appreciation does not go unnoticed by those operating the clinic, said Corry Fenton, EMS and emergency management coordinator at Sharon Regional Medical Center.
Depending on the need at hand, Fenton worked helping wheelchair-bound patients to their vehicles or getting patients signed in and directed where to go.
"The community's been great so far," Fenton said.
By the numbers
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 3,240 COVID-19 fatalities Thursday, the highest figure since 3,335 on Feb. 15.
Pennsylvania had 3,196 new cases, according to the state Department of Health. That is the highest single-day case count since Feb. 17. However, fatalities continued to decline, with 69, the seventh consecutive day with fewer than 100 newly reported deaths in the state.
After 12 days without a reported fatality, Mercer County had a COVID-19 death on Feb. 21.
Hospital preparedness
Over the last two days since Feb. 24, hospitalizations, ICU demand and ventilator use all decreased.
Intensive care bed occupancy fell 6.9% in the last two days, to 403. Ventilator use decreased 8.8% to 218.
The state's hospitals had 1,897 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital care, a 3.4% decrease since Wednesday.
Pennsylvania's rolling 14-day average for hospitalizations continued to decrease. At 2,125.7, the state is heading toward a daily average of less than 2,000 admissions, a mark it hasn't seen since Nov. 16.
The state has 770.9 an average of available ICU beds per day over the last two weeks. That figure is down slightly from the peak of 773.3 on Feb. 22.
Average daily ventilator use has been 251 in the last 14 days. The state average hasn't dropped below 250 since Nov. 20, although it is likely to cross that threshold over the weekend.
Like David L. Dye on Facebook or email him at ddye@sharonherald.com.