Partnership to allow more veterans, family to be vaccinated

Lovell Federal Health Care Center teams up with Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep for weekend clinics

WAUKEGAN – A new partnership will allow for more veterans and their families to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.

The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center and Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep are teaming up for a clinic that will offer Moderna COVID-19 vaccinations to eligible patients on select weekends. The first weekend was April 17-18.

Lovell FHCC will administer the shots, by appointment only, at the school, 3106 Belvidere Road, Waukegan.

Scheduled COVID-19 vaccinations will continue weekdays, and occasional weekends, at Lovell FHCC’s main hospital in North Chicago.

All veterans of U.S. military service and their spouses and caregivers age 18 and older are eligible to get COVID-19 vaccinations from Lovell FHCC and other U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care facilities under the Save Lives Act, which recently was signed into law by President Joe Biden, according to a news release.

Those eligible for the vaccine are not required to be eligible for VA health care, but they must register for the vaccine.

Lovell FHCC also continues to vaccinate its enrolled VA and Department of Defense patients, including active duty personnel and their dependents age 18 and older.

“With the signing of the Save Lives Act, along with the partnership between Lovell FHCC and Cristo Rey St. Martin College Prep, we have the opportunity to vaccinate more patients than space at Lovell FHCC and normal eligibility requirements would ever allow,” said Dr. Robert Buckley, director at Lovell FHCC. “We are so appreciative of our new partnership with Cristo Rey St. Martin, and excited about this expanded opportunity to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to our current VA and DoD patients and those newly eligible to get COVID-19 vaccinations through VA.”

This isn’t the first time that Cristo Rey St. Martin Prep has reached out to help with vaccinating those in the community. One event at the school, which is in a former Kmart building, was able to vaccinate 2,400 people through a partnership with Jewel-Osco, said John Geis, communication manager for Cristo Rey. Five food drives held in partnership with Northern Illinois Food Bank were able to help at least 900 families each time, Geis said.

Cristo Rey St. Martin Prep students and faculty helped out at the Jewel-Osco vaccination event. As the newest vaccination clinic grows through the partnership with Lovell FHCC, the school will be able to provide volunteers, as well, Geis said.

The clinics are expected to continue into the summer.

Eligible FHCC patients under the Save Lives Act must register online at www.va.gov/health-care/covid-19-vaccine/. Patients also can call 224-610-3747 or register in person at Lovell FHCC’s main hospital. More information is on the Lovell FHCC website at www.lovell.fhcc.va.gov/.

Enrolled Lovell FHCC patients and those registered under the Save Lives Act can call 224-610-3899 to schedule vaccination appointments. The scheduling line is operational from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.