‘Such a miracle:’ COVID-19 vaccine arrives at long-term care facilities

SANDWICH - When healthcare workers put the needle in her arm and administered her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, what seemed like a miracle to Mariam Collins a month ago became a reality Friday.

“It just blew my mind,” said Collins, 67, who has been at Willow Crest Nursing Pavilion, 515 N. Main St. in Sandwich -- the site of DeKalb County’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreak to date -- for about 18 months after living in DeKalb for about 30 years.

“It just seemed like such a miracle,” she said. “It’s just really hard to understand. Like, wow. They really did something here.”

Collins was among the first Willow Crest residents to be vaccinated on Friday, among the first wave as the federal Pharmacy Partnership Program reached DeKalb County this week. The program is a direct partnership between long-term care and pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens.

In three weeks, Collins will receive her second dose.

Surviving the outbreak

The vaccine for many has been a long-time coming, and it’s arrival Friday is not without a cost.

Over the summer of 2020, Willow Crest was the site of the deadliest outbreak in the county to date, with 15 deaths and 68 cases reported last year.

And that toll didn’t escape Collins.

“My roommate before the one I had now, she died of COVID,” Collins said. “But she had a lot of other complications too, though. So that was disturbing she didn’t come back.”

Collins said she never tested positive for the virus, but while her roommate was in the hospital, had to quarantine.

That time alone gave her the ability to reflect on the situation, she said.

“It was very hard,” Collins said. “Actually I got time because I had to go into isolation because she was with me before she went into the hospital. So I was in a couple weeks of isolation in my own room. So I had the time to reflect about it. To me, the hardest thing was when I’d see the undertaker’s vehicle outside my window. I would know someone had passed. ... That was always hard.”

With an end in sight and a vaccine dose in her arm, Collins said she felt fortunate that she never had to go through contracting the virus.

“I got lucky,” Collins said. “I was so grateful that I didn’t have to go through it. Now I have the first shot and looking forward to that second one on Week 3.”

Long-awaited vaccine arrives at long-term care facilities

To date, 510 DeKalb County residents have been fully vaccinated as of Friday and 2,806 doses of the vaccine have been administered. Long-term care facilities in the county have entered into agreements with pharmacies to get their allotment, with Walgreen’s providing the shot on Friday to Willow Crest.

The DeKalb County Health Department is overseeing mass distribution vaccine rollout, according to countywide and federally-established programs. The rollout is phased, with high-health risk groups prioritized, along with frontline workers. The health department announced Friday that vaccine supply is still limited, and urged all residents and employers to sign up with the health department’s online registration system, which will keep virtual track of how many doses need to be administered, and allow health officials to email people directly when it’s their turn for a dose.

Individual appointments aren’t being allowed yet, but you can register to be notified when it’s your turn by going to https://health.dekalbcounty.org/about/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccination/.

“At this time, clinic dates cannot be scheduled far in advance as vaccine allotment has not been consistent from week to week,” announced the DeKalb County Health Department in Friday’s statement. “In collaborating with our partners, we are using a multifaceted approach for our vaccine administration. This multifaceted approach includes mass vaccination clinics, but also includes the use of clinical strike teams to vaccinate smaller priority group.”

Willow Crest administrator Zach Ruddle said everybody who wanted the vaccine got it on Friday.

In three weeks, there will be another opportunity for residents to get their first dose. There will be a third visit three weeks after that to wrap up the final dose for those who need it.

Collins said the sense in the nursing home is the vaccine distribution means some normalcy may be returning before long.

“All of us here are very happy,” Collins said. “We’ve had some isolation and we miss coming to the dining room to eat our meals and certain things that will go back to normal at some point.”

Ruddle said there’s no time frame for that yet - IDPH sets the guidelines.

‘I haven’t felt as deprived as I thought I would’

Even with all the restrictions that have been in place since the start of the pandemic, Collins said she’s been impressed with how the staff has kept the residents entertained with everything from daily puzzles and art projects, to special snacks and bingo played in different rooms.

“They always have found us things to do. Or eat in our rooms,” Collins said with a big laugh. “Like a treat. And we play bingo with Walkie Talkies and that’s always fun I’m glad to say. I don’t know how they did it, but I haven’t felt as deprived as I thought I would. ... The days go just as fast. You think it wouldn’t. They really have a good plan here.”

Collins said it’s a lot of television time and chatting on the phone with families, although in her case she said she has an iPad to video chat with her children and grandkids.

So even though she said she hasn’t seen her family ‘in quite a while’ - she couldn’t remember the exact time - she said it’s really fun seeing them and chatting with them on video.

“I’m elderly, so I’m not used to this video chatting where you can see them, they can see me, and the grandkids are running all over and doing their crazy different faces,” she said. “That part I really love. So I haven’t really missed them like if we were totally cut off. If I couldn’t see them at all that would be way worse.”