Caroline Carlson | Daily Press Pictured left to right, Registered Nurse Volunteer Kathy Perkins administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the Heirman Center at Bay College Wednesday, as Mary Harrington, RN, looks on, seated in the foreground.

ESCANABA — When COVID-19 vaccinations began in Delta and Menominee counties in January, Public Health, Delta & Menominee Counties (PHDM) Heath Officer Mike Snyder, RS, MPA, knew the sheer volume of vaccinations called for would present a staffing problem. That’s when registered nurse and former Public Health employee Mary Harrington called with the idea to recruit retired nurses as volunteers for the ongoing vaccine clinics.

“I’ve never been in a pandemic before, but I don’t know how you vaccinate this many people if you don’t have help,” said Harrington.

Snyder suggested Harrington contact Deb Poquette, RN, and former PHDM Director of Nursing, to see if they could forge a path ahead. Poquette jumped on board, and she and Harrington came up with 60 potential volunteers. A solution was in motion.

“Without those two, we couldn’t have pulled this off. They do the legwork,” said Snyder.

The next step was getting volunteers cleared by the state to perform the vaccinations — a process that includes a background check. Once volunteers were verified, Poquette took on the task of scheduling them for duty. Licensed nurses were assigned to perform vaccinations, unlicensed nurses to observe patients for 15 minutes after vaccination. Harrington said Poquette’s continued efforts on behalf of the vaccination clinics is commendable.

As the vaccination strategy began taking shape, Bay College Vice President of Operations Chris Williams reached out to PHDM, offering to hold the clinic at the college’s Joseph Heirman University Center.

The coordinated effort between PHDM, nurse volunteers, and Bay is working well. PHDM always has at least two nurses present on vaccination days drawing doses and filling syringes, and Poquette schedules volunteer nurses to augment PHDM staff, depending upon need.

“We want to stress how great Bay College and OSF have been to partner with. We all have the same goal in mind — to get everyone vaccinated — and we couldn’t have done it without these partners,” said Snyder.

In mutual admiration, Harrington said the health department has a very good staff, and PHDM nurses are running a very smooth clinic and taking care of the volunteers.

A licensed RN for 37 years in the Delta County area, Harrington has worked in many venues, including but not limited to hospitals, operating rooms and the public health department. At present Harrington is also a legal nurse consultant. Though she was amazed at the response from volunteers, she wasn’t entirely surprised.

“Nobody hesitated. Not one person I contacted was unwilling to help out. The response was overwhelming,” said Harrington, who added, “The people volunteering go above and beyond. They are fantastic.”

Snyder said the hardest part of rolling out the vaccine is that PHDM doesn’t find out what’s coming in Monday until the prior Friday. The short turnaround makes arranging the logistics tough, especially for the volunteers.

“So far we’ve had coverage. Volunteers have changed their schedules around to help us,” said Harrington.

RN of 20 years Kathy Perkins drives down on Mondays from Gooseneck Lake to volunteer. She returns home on the weekends after spending all week at her mother’s to be close to the vaccination site. According to Harrington, Perkins doesn’t think twice about the effort. Neither, it appears, does Harrington, who is herself present to provide vaccinations. An Escanaba native, her hometown pride is evident.

“I was born and raised here. We used to raise hell, I’ve got stories. We’re sworn to secrecy, though,” Harrington said.

The nurse really lights up, however, when speaking about the community.

“I can’t say enough about the community we live in. They give and don’t ask anything in return. It’s been a wonderful place to live. You want to give back to a community like this,” said Harrington.

Bay College nursing students are also participating in the historic immunizations. Bay College Nursing Instructor Caitlin Capodilupo, DNP, RN, teaches in the specialty area of Medical-Surgical Nursing. She explained that students were allowed to return to the clinical setting in 2021. During the COVID-19 vaccination clinics, eight Bay College ADN students were able to give over 40 shots each, under the supervision of their nursing instructor and PHDM nurses.

“By involving students in efforts to promote health in Upper Michigan (such as the COVID-19 immunization clinic organized by Public Health Delta Menominee), students not only discover what it means to be a front-line worker, but also have the opportunity to be a part of history. I’m really proud of my students,” said Capodilupo.

Harrington whole-heartedly agreed, and said enabling experienced registered nurses to take the nursing students under their wings provides invaluable education.

“If you don’t have people who are active in the field to train you, you don’t get what you need. You’re only as good as those who teach you. The Bay nursing students have had the unique opportunity to have some hands-on training with the supervision of instructors, health department and volunteer nurses.” said Harrington.

Due to extremely limited vaccine supply, only individuals in priority group 1B (subgroups A and B) and those age 65 and above are eligible to receive the vaccination at this time. PHDM is pausing the wait-list for COVID-19 vaccine appointments, which currently has over 4,000 names on it. Those on the wait-list will be contacted to schedule an appointment as vaccine becomes available and additional clinics are scheduled.

Residents of both Delta and Menominee Counties will have the ability to schedule their own COVID-19 vaccination appointments online, once all individuals on the wait-list have had an opportunity to schedule their vaccinations.

Snyder understands the frustration with the speed of the vaccine roll-out. He said the state goal is 90% vaccination within seven days of receipt of each batch of vaccine. During the first week of February alone, 400 first doses of the Moderna vaccine will have been administered, as well as 975 second doses of the Pfizer vaccine .

While the state goal for distribution sets a brisk pace, the number of people vaccinated is limited by how many doses PHDM receives on a daily basis. Snyder said the process is easier once people receive their first dose, because PHDM knows when second doses will be needed. Every vaccination recipient leaves their first dose appointment with the appointment for second dose scheduled.

Even with the frustrations of vaccine shortages, Harrington said the community has been absolutely wonderful.

“I have never taken care of more gracious people in my career. People are so grateful to be vaccinated, they’re just a joy to be around,” she said.

The gratitude is especially appreciated by Harrington due to the risks the nurse volunteers are taking.

“The volunteers are taking the risk of exposure on a daily basis. I can’t thank them enough. They never hesitated. I had an idea, but without help ideas go nowhere,” Harrington said.

She asked that the volunteers be given the credit, not her, even though Harrington herself is a volunteer. She asked that anyone interested in being a nurse volunteer contact PHDM at 906-786-4111.