Gritman, PRH armed and ready
Health care workers step to front of line for vaccines as next chapter of COVID-19 battle unfolds
Nina Benichou rolled up her sleeve Friday and became the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccination from Gritman Medical Center in Moscow.
“This is a very special and happy moment for us as a health care community in the fight against COVID-19,” said Peter Mundt, Gritman director of community relations and marketing.
Mundt said Benichou has been a registered nurse for 10 years, including the last eight years at Gritman. She has worked the last seven years as a nurse in Gritman’s critical care and medical surgical units.
“Nina and her colleagues have provided extraordinary care for many COVID-19 patients here at Gritman during the pandemic,” Mundt said.
Benichou said she was “very grateful to receive the first vaccine” from Gritman.
Connie Osborn, Gritman chief quality officer, provided Benichou a commemorative “I GOT MY COVID-19 VACCINE!” sticker after a Gritman registered nurse injected Benichou with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
“As medical staff, we are encouraged and excited about this next big step of the emergency-use authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Dr. Nick Garrett, Gritman emergency physician.
Garrett said officials will not see the full effects of the vaccine for several months, so he encouraged the public to continue to wear face coverings, socially distance and limit indoor gatherings.
Also Friday, Pullman Regional Hospital administered Whitman County’s first doses of the COVID-19 to its staff. Those who received the vaccine are the health care workers who meet the criteria for Phase 1a of Washington’s vaccine allocation plan.
PRH spokeswoman Megan Guido said Palouse Medical staff also were expected to receive their vaccine shots.
Whitman Hospital and Medical Centers staff will receive their shots in Pullman.
Washington State University announced Thursday the initial 975 doses of the vaccine arrived in Pullman and are being stored in an ultra-cold freezer provided by the university.
Back at Gritman, Kathie LaFortune, a Gritman pediatric physical therapist and Latah County commissioner, received the COVID-19 vaccine Friday.
“I didn’t even feel the shot,” said LaFortune. She said she felt fine after receiving the vaccine and that she walked to and from the hospital.
Mundt said Gritman will administer the 350 doses of the vaccine it received from Public Health – Idaho North Central District in the next few days. He said Gritman employees and critical medical personnel who fall in the COVID-19 priority distribution group established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state of Idaho will receive the first doses of the vaccine.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is given in two doses, three weeks apart, a Gritman news release said Friday.
A Gritman news release Tuesday said as vaccines become more widely available in the weeks and months to come, they will begin being offered to priority populations and eventually the general public as recommended by state and federal public health officials.
Gritman announced in another Friday news release that two more COVID-19 patients were admitted to the hospital since last week. Twenty-six COVID-19 patients have been admitted to the hospital this year. The seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate dropped from 11.25 percent last week to 6.83 percent this week.
In Latah County, PH-INCD reported 19 new cases of COVID-19 Friday, raising the total to 2,043 in the county. The 2,043 cases include 1,932 confirmed and 111 probable cases. Of the total cases, 1,546 recovered, 494 are open and three died from the virus.
The 19 new cases include one boy in the 13-17 age range, nine people 18-29, three in their 30s, one woman in her 40s, one woman in her 50s, two people in their 60s, one man in his 70s, and one woman in her 80s.
Whitman County Public Health received 18 new positive COVID-19 cases Friday, bringing the county total to 2,618, according to a WCPH news release. Seven infected people are hospitalized and all other cases are stable and self-isolating. Total deaths from the virus remain at 22.
Of the 18 new cases, four are younger than 20 years old, five are 20-39, four are 40-59 and five are 60-79.
Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com. Anthony Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.
