Photo By Master Sgt. Matthew Keeler | Spc. Han Thach, left, a combat medic with the Pennsylvania National Guard, administers...... read more read more
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ENOLA, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania National Guard recently concluded its mission to help administer the COVID-19 vaccine to Pennsylvania teachers and school staffs.
About 100 Pa. National Guard Soldiers and Airmen took part in the mission, which began March 11 and wrapped up on March 30. The mission was a partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency to provide the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine to teachers, child care workers and other school staff.
Guard members supported vaccination clinics at 13 different Intermediate Units across the state. IUs are regional educational service agencies that provide a variety of educational and administrative services for their member school districts.
More than 42,000 doses of the vaccine were administered at the clinics, with Pa. National Guard members administering 14,634 of them.
The mission was extremely successful, said Col. Frank Montgomery, the Pa. National Guard's director of military support.
"On short notice, we mobilized approximately 100 Soldiers and Airmen and deployed them to 13 different locations around the commonwealth in support of our partner agencies," Montgomery said. "Our service members personally administered almost 15,000 vaccines to teachers and school staff and assisted at sites that totaled over 42,000 vaccines administered.
"Missions like this demonstrate the flexibility and agility of the Pennsylvania National Guard, and our service members were proud to support their communities,” Montgomery added.
Among the clinic locations was the Capital Area Intermediate Unit in Enola, Pa., which concluded operations on March 26.
“Our crews have been here from the first dose going into the arm, to the last dose of the day,” said Staff Sgt. Benjamin Kilmer, site noncommissioned officer in charge for the Pa. National Guard vaccination team at Capital Area Intermediate Unit.
Kilmer, who has been on orders to support the Pa. National Guard's COVID-19 operations since August 2020, said there was a great turnout in Enola.
"On a weekday, in a seven- to eight-hour day, we have vaccinated about 600 people," he said. "While on a weekend, which is a 12-hour day, we are vaccinating almost a thousand a day."
The Pa. National Guard teams supporting the clinics include medical specialists who are trained to perform tasks like administering injections, and general-purpose personnel who can perform non-medical tasks, such as help fill-out and check forms.
Spc. Nadiah Sims, an ammunition specialist who was activated to support the vaccination mission, said she was glad that she could volunteer to support this kind of mission.
“It’s been a good experience for me,” she said. “It is not what I thought I would be doing, joining the National Guard or being on orders in general. Even though I’m not giving the vaccines, it’s good to be a part of helping the community.”
The ability to move the patients quickly and safely through the vaccination process is due to the training and mentorship of the leadership of the Soldiers on the mission, Sims said.
“We have been through a lot of training before coming here, so everything has been pretty easy," she said. "We were well-prepared to support the mission."
To Kilmer, it was the reaction of the community that made the job so worthwhile.
“Things have gone great,” Kilmer said. “The public is more than appreciative to see the uniformed Soldiers out here providing a service to the commonwealth. Everything has run smoothly, and I do not think that it could get any more efficient. All-in-all it is going great.”
And for Sims, she believes the legacy of this operation will continue long past them leaving this site.
“The community has been really grateful," Sims said. "They have given us a lot of positive feedback. Most of them have not been around the National Guard, so for them to see us out supporting the community, I think it gives them a better impression of us."
| Date Taken: | 03.30.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 04.01.2021 11:09 |
| Story ID: | 392580 |
| Location: | ENOLA, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 100 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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