Officials say today’s opening of Clarion Hospital’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic in the former Peebles building at the Clarion Mall will greatly enhance the number of people who can be vaccinated in one day.
“In our present location we could do about 140 to 150 vaccinations a day,” said Clarion Hospital chief nursing officer Leslie Walters. “Moving to this new location, and having the support of the county, we will be able to more than double the vaccinations we are able to give, and with enough vaccine we could give up to 400 to 500 in a day,” Walters added.
The goal is to put 40 to 50 people through the clinic in an hour, according to Walters.
Clarion County Commissioner Ted Tharan described the clinic “as a public, private partnership” during Tuesday’s commissioners meeting.
“We wanted to be able to get the people of the county vaccinated quickly once the vaccine became available,” Tharan said.
Tharan said the county contacted Clarion Mall manager Denny Hill and Clarion Hospital President Steven Davis and discussed using the former Peebles store as a vaccination site.
Commissioners signed a lease Tuesday with Clarion Associates to rent the former Peebles site for four months at a cost of $3,000 per month. The lease will expire at the end of May.
“It is the taxpayers’ money so we need to spend it on the taxpayers,” said Tharan.
Employees of the county’s public safety department will be on duty outside the clinic to help with parking and registration.
“They will work five-hour shifts to make sure everything runs smoothly,” said Tharan. County employees will also be certain the interior of the building is sanitized.
“This has been a truly collaborative effort,” said Davis. “We are going to get the vaccine into the arms of our community as soon as we get the vaccine. We are committed to that as an organization and that is what we are going to do.”
“The other side of that coin is that we have very limited vaccine,” said Davis. “I would like to hear something different in a week or so but the message we are getting from the Department of Health is that they really don’t have much control over what they are getting.”
Davis said the number of vaccinations the hospital could administer was hampered by the lack of space.
“We were basically using our board room,” he said. “We can only handle so many patients there in a day.”
Davis added that “within a day after our first meeting, the county had identified this space for us. I think we can be a model for how a community can come together in the midst of a crisis like this. I am proud of the folks in this community.”
Clarion County employees worked on the former store to get it ready for the clinic. Then Clarion Hospital employees set up the interior according to the guidelines.
The Pfizer vaccine, which requires cold storage, will be used at the clinic. The supply is presently being stored at the Butler hospital.
“We will bring it up to Clarion as needed,” said Davis. “We have a good handle on all of that. I don’t think it is a huge logistical problem.”
Staffing should not be an issue.
“Our staffing is good,” said Walters. “It could have been a problem without the support of the county.”
Registration for the clinic is done online.
“We closed that last week because of the number of registrations,” said Walters. “As we get more of the vaccine, I am sure that will open.”
Registration may be done through the Clarion Hospital’s website. A link also appears on the Clarion County website.