April 19, 2024
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Trinity Services and partners create COVID-19 vaccination clinic for developmentally disabled

‘We wanted to remove roadblocks and make this process as easy as possible’

By Denise M. Baran-Unland

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (second from right) and Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services Grace Hou (fourth from right) visit with (from left to right) Jim Pritz, of J.D. Brown Pharmacy; Chad Kodiak, of KODO Care Pharmacy; Carolyn Cochran Kopel, of IDHS; and Tim Gunter and Thane Dykstra, of Trinity Services, March 18 during a vaccination clinic in New Lenox. (Photo provided)

The Illinois Department of Human Services recently worked with Trinity Services and partner organizations to offer four COVID-19 vaccination clinics for people with developmental disabilities and workers who support them.

More 650 Chicagoland residents and staff members have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a news release from Trinity Services.

Trinity provided the clinics at the site of its future permanent supportive housing apartment complex in New Lenox.

In the news release, Thane Dykstra, president and CEO of Trinity Services, called the teamwork and communication during these clinics “awe-inspiring” and said “these were, undoubtedly, lifesaving clinics.”

Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton and Grace Hou, Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services, attended the March 18 vaccination clinic.

“We tried to identify people who were unable to get the vaccine elsewhere and ensure they had the opportunity to receive it,” Hou said in the news release. “We wanted to remove roadblocks and make this process as easy as possible so people could be protected from the harms of the coronavirus.”

Mel Tadesse, with Access Community Experience, Inc., and Matthew Lipman, with Kin Care, Inc., both said the clinics were professional, efficient and accessible. Access had 17 people vaccinated, and Kin Care had eight people vaccinated.

Lipman said one person Kin Care supports “hates needles” but those running the clinics were very accommodating.

“What impressed me is from the moment we drove up, we could tell there was enough staff, and everyone was on the same page about what needed to be done,” Tadesse said in the release. “Everyone was very friendly and treated people with compassion and understanding, without being condescending.”

People and organizations credited with making the clinics possible include KODO Care Pharmacy, J.D. Brown Pharmacy, staff of Madden Mental Health Center, nursing faculty and students from the University of St. Francis and Joliet Junior College, New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann, the New Lenox Community Emergency Response Team, the New Lenox Emergency Services and Disaster Agency, and Trinity Services staff members.

Chad Kodiak, a pharmacist with KODO Care Pharmacy, reflected on the first vaccination clinic.

“I’m having a hard time thinking of a time in my life where a single event has had such a positive impact on so many people,” Kodiak said in the release, “To think that we vaccinated over 338 people in one day with less than one week’s notice is truly remarkable.”

For more information about Trinity Services, visit trinityservices.org.