Jamie Bone, a registered nurse with the Davis County Department of Health, prepares a Modern COVID-19 vaccine syringe at Farmington’s Legacy Center Indoor Arena on Jan. 12 (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
FARMINGTON – While the rest of the world seemed to experience a sense of isolation and loneliness as blockages and quarantines in the midst of COVID-19 began to appear, Isa Perry felt almost the opposite.
“If you worked in public health you would never get bored or left alone or isolated and most of the time you were completely overwhelmed and overstimulated,” said Perry, health strategy manager for the Davis County Department of Health. “I saw it and experienced it throughout most of the pandemic, just not having the same experience as the rest of the people because of the kind of work we were involved in.”
While many had moved away from office buildings and settled into work with a lot of background noise, Perry and his team had expanded through Farmington County facilities. Soon, the buildings were filled with waves of ringing phones and the buzz of conversation as they were picked up.
Perry and the health department prepared for a large volume of calls once COVID-19 vaccines began arriving in Utah. Additional staff was quickly incorporated to help manage the planned numbers.
“We were able to get temporary workers in the election,” Perry said. “It was pretty miraculous, very brave and brave for them, people with no public health history, but who were willing to show up the next morning and start answering the phones.”
The next morning was January 15, shortly after the vaccines began to roll out for adults 70 and older, phone calls never stopped; the Davis County Department of Health received more than 14,000 calls that day. Perry said it was the first time the system was tested with this capability.
“At first, on a typical day, your phone never stopped ringing. It was a little physically exhausting for our staff with tired voices,” Perry said. “There was no interruption between calls. Most people just wanted to get the vaccine and wanted to get it as soon as possible.”
Call center staff were able to schedule vaccination appointments, make follow-up second-dose follow-up calls, help reduce barriers for people without access to the website, and schedule appointments at home.
The call center, from its inception to its current state, has marked the different stages of the pandemic.
“Call center, volume, and call type have definitely changed over time,” Perry said. “Right now we have a lot less calls in the call center and we have a lot less staff than we had in the beginning.”
Recently, calls to the center have focused on information about exposure when vaccinated and how to better protect people in your community, Perry added. Call center staff and community health workers have also heard all the myths and misinformation surrounding the vaccine.
“Disinformation has been a big challenge. We really have a great vaccine outreach effort where we are in vaccine-giving communities, and it’s really where our community health workers are able to build some trusting relationships with our people. or vulnerable people, who might have misinformation or cultural concerns, “Perry said.
As the number of calls begins to decline, the Davis County Department of Health is evaluating its next steps as it progresses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The next phase is twofold. We’ve increased the number of COVID cases in the county, which makes us overwhelmed and overwhelmed, and we’re expecting a fairly large number of people to receive their booster dose again when the CDC announces this. it makes that final. And so we’re going to reopen our mass vaccination clinic, ”said Trevor Warner, communications manager for the Davis County Department of Health.
The county health department has reported high transmission of COVID-19 virus on its website.
On Monday, it reported 130 cases and an average of 137 cases a day over the past week. There are currently 52 hospitalizations, with the use of beds in the county’s intensive care unit almost reaching 95% capacity. Davis County reported that it had 27 beds for adult ICUs, 11 are filled by patients who do not have COVID-19 and 14 patients who have the disease.
Mass vaccinations were available at Farmington’s Legacy Center from December 2020 to June 2021. It was a clinic that allowed anyone to receive their vaccine. The clinic provided more than 222,000 doses, but eventually closed its doors once the vaccine was more available through doctors and pharmacies.
“It was when we were at a time when we tended to put other tasks and jobs of the health department in the backyard and our focus was to vaccinate as many people as soon as possible and therefore we had all our hands But now, COVID it can’t consume us all the time and therefore we have health department programs and jobs that have contracts and everything that needs to be met, ”Warner added.
The health department has a lot of open places it wants to cover. Some of these positions are for staff and coordination of the reopening of the mass vaccination clinic, while others help the department move forward in its routine programs. Perry said managing COVID-19 among other tasks can be a balance.
“Now that we are preparing to reopen the mass vaccination clinic, we will probably draw resources from outreach events, bringing the vaccine to people while we have a large volume of demand to come to our large vaccination clinics., Is an act “We are very committed to the spread of vaccines; we have definitely seen their benefits and effectiveness. But there will be a point where we will have to resize this to make the massive effort,” Perry said. .
The return of the mass vaccination clinic marks for some a narrowing of the light at the end of the tunnel.
“We had no idea how long the pandemic would last. And because it’s been built and continued, I think it’s been difficult for our staff not to necessarily see that light at the end of the tunnel,” said Dave Spence, deputy director. of the Davis County Department of Health. “We saw some light a couple of months ago when we closed our mass vaccination clinic, but the cases have increased again and it’s hard to see the light at the end of this tunnel.”
That’s partly why the health department is pushing to hire more staff, Warner said.
“People are tired and exhausted. Now that they’ve got this other huge lift and they see an increase in cases and now they have to do another clinic to administer vaccines and all that, it’s a lot.” Warner said. “And I think that’s why we’re coming out a little ahead. We see it’s going to be a challenge to hire people.”
Perry, who can still hear the sound of phones in his head, being that exhausted for a few days.
“There definitely doesn’t seem to be an end in sight, so it can be overwhelming not knowing if the workload will ever become manageable or decrease,” Perry said. “However, it is only one part of living in a Western community: the values of freedom and also protecting the greater good,” he said. “But from my point of view, the fact that we continue to make the vaccine accessible and that more and more people are choosing to vaccinate me every day is still encouraging.”