Bartlett Regional | House Calls | Spring 2021

Along with rows of recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine, Juneau residents Hal Geiger, 66, and Meg Cartwright, 71, sat 6 feet apart in a huge room at Centennial Hall. As they waited the mandatory 15 minutes for any possible allergic reaction, they looked back to the last time they were in a similar setting, getting the vaccine for polio. For Meg, it was 1962, in her junior high school gym. Indeed, Juneau’s convention center feels and looks more like a gymnasium for this first mass vaccination event in Juneau. Hal recalls the time before the vaccine for polio was developed, when classmates with the disease were required to wear leg braces and crutches for the rest of their lives. At 13, Meg received the polio vaccine. But not by a shot. “I remember lining up Keeping Juneau HEALTHY First mass vaccination event a success VACCINES outside and waiting for the sugar cube,” she says. “My parents were really excited about it. My dad, who was a doctor, just said over and over, ‘This is historical.’” Vaccines for the community During the first mass vaccination event January 15-17, 1,201 people, mostly seniors and some health care workers, got their first of the required two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. Joint organizers Bartlett Regional Hospital, City and Borough of Juneau, and Juneau Public Health say the event was the first of a series in the capital city. Since then, SEARHC and the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska have joined the effort. The goal is getting as many people vaccinated as soon as possible in a safe manner. The Juneau PODs are like several such events across the country. “I think we’re doing well here,” says April Rendenzes, Public Health Nurse Team Lead. “We’re taking some of the things we learned at the state level and trying to make them easier, like keeping “I am so grateful and feel very privileged to have the shot in my arm. I feel much, much safer.” —Christina MacDougall, 65, community clinic vaccine recipient Juneau Douglas High School teacher and librarian Karina Reyes was in the first wave of educators to be vaccinated. Former Pharmacy Director Cindy Audet is one of many retired Bartlett employees who volunteered for the event. “Each vaccine gets us closer to the mark for herd immunity,” says Cindy. 8 House Calls Spring 2021