IEH partners with CVS for staff, resident vaccines

Three new cases of COVID-19 Thursday.

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Jennie Driesen, RN, receives her second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine from nurse practitioner Marcy Holmes. — Raquel Soares

While the Island’s vaccine program is being run through the hospital, Island Elderly Housing has partnered with CVS to administer COVID-19 vaccine doses to its staff and residents, according to IEH board president Simone DeSorcy.

First doses for IEH staff and residents will take place in the first week of March. Some IEH residents have received vaccine doses already, but the elder housing organization worked with the Massachusetts Department of Elder Services to partner with CVS and get doses to the rest of its staff and residents.

“It’s been a long year, for both residents and staff. This partnership with CVS provides a hopeful light at the end of a very long tunnel. I applaud the hard work on the part of every single staff person at IEH, as well as the residents who have been so cooperative as new prevention protocols rolled out weekly,” DeSorcy wrote in an email to The Times.

Martha’s Vineyard individuals aged 65 and older and those with two or more chronic health conditions, including asthma, will be eligible to book COVID-19 vaccine appointments beginning this Saturday, Feb. 20.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference Wednesday evening, Hospital president and Chief executive officer Denise Schepici and chief nurse and chief operating officer Claire Seguin said appointment booking for the new group would open on the hospital website “Saturday morning” with appointments available on Monday Feb. 22. No exact time for when booking would open on Saturday.

Individuals will not be notified via Patient Gateway and need sign up through the hospital’s website.

Eligible individuals can follow these steps:

  • Go to hospital website at mvhospital.org/patients_and_visitor/covid-19-updates 
  • Click the “COVID Vaccine Open Scheduling” link on the webpage.
  • Confirm your eligibility by selecting “yes” after you attest that you belong to a current priority group.
  • If you are eligible, select “Martha’s Vineyard Hospital” as a location.
  • Schedule your appointment during an available time slot.
  • Review information to ensure it is correct and then select “schedule it.”

The Martha’s Vineyard boards of health reported three new cases of COVID-19 Thursday—all three from the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

The hospital has conducted 13,474 tests for COVID-19 since March. Of those, 643 have tested positive, 12,797 negative, and 34 are pending results.

There is one patient hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the hospital’s website.

As of Friday, TestMV has conducted 33,095 tests since June. Of those, 251 have tested positive, 32,017 negative, and 827 are pending results.

The town of Aquinnah has conducted 418 tests, of which one has come back positive, 415 negative and two pending results.

The Martha’s Vineyard public schools have tested 4,339 individuals. Of those three have tested positive. The public school data is updated once a week.

There are 36 active cases on the Island, according to an expanded Friday report from the boards of health—a decline from 48 active cases the previous week.

The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has reported a total of seven positive cases of COVID-19.

Due to how tests are conducted, there can be a discrepancy between the number of positive individuals and the number of positive tests reported.

The vast majority of COVID-19 cases have been reported since the end of October, when the Island’s first cluster of cases was linked to a wedding in October. Since then, the Island has seen 813 cases of COVID-19 — several times the 89 cases reported on the Island between when testing began in March and mid-October.

In addition to the wedding cluster, which reported eight cases, clusters at Cronig’s Market, with 19 cases, and a Bible study group, with 11 cases, have also been reported.

New clusters were reported last week, with a five-case cluster at the hospital, and a four-case cluster at Project Headway.

 

1 COMMENT

  1. What about home bound elderly??? No one seems to have a plan for them. They are homebound, but their caregivers are not. And they are our most vulnerable.

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