SALT LAKE CITY – Utah leaders said they were inundated with questions from doctors and non-medical professionals about how they could help the state in the weeks following the release of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson gave an answer to those questions on Thursday. He unveiled the state’s voluntary “call to action” effort that allows people with professional medical training to sign up to administer COVID-19 traits and inexperienced people to help them in other ways.
“We need a lot of people and we need medical professionals and others who can help and want to help,” he said.
Anyone interested in volunteering can do so by going to UtahResponds.org. There, they can enroll in the statewide volunteer registry that is used to organize volunteers. The website is open to all Utahns, regardless of whether they have licensed medical skills.
Once someone has registered, they can obtain vitrified professional credentials and receive volunteer work at local health departments and nearby vaccine clinics across the state. The site also allows people to see where volunteers are needed.
“We’re asking people who want to help to sign up and be willing to work at least four-hour shifts,” Henderson said. “Keep in mind that just because you sign up to volunteer, that doesn’t mean you got the vaccine.”
The lieutenant governor said there is an “immediate need” for volunteers who are trained to administer vaccines or control people after receiving the shot. This group includes anyone who has received a medical license from the Utah Division of Professional and Professional Licensing, the Utah Register of Nursing Assistants, and the Office of Emergency Medical Services and Preparedness. of Utah.
The list of people who may be eligible for this need includes:
- Doctors
- Registered nurses, licensed nurses or professional nurses
- Temporary graduate nurses or apprentices of temporary registered nurses
- Advanced paramedics or EMTs
- Certified Nursing Assistants
- Podiatrists
- Pharmacists, pharmacy interns or pharmacy technicians
- Medical assistants or medical assistants
- Certified patient assistants or certified midwives
- Respiratory therapists
- Dentists or dental hygienists
- Optometrists
- Physiotherapists or physiotherapy assistants
- Occupational therapists or occupational therapy assistants
Henderson said that if someone within the professions on the list does not have the certified currency to administer vaccines, the state would work with them to obtain certification as soon as possible.
If you don’t have medical experience, there are still ways to help you. Henderson said the state will still need volunteers for traffic control, data entry and security. Details about all the roles Utah is asking for were posted Thursday on the state’s coronavirus website.
“We can take a couple of weeks to use you, as we get these clinics across the state, but we can use vaccinators right away,” Henderson said. “We need you. We need you very much, and that’s the bright, bright light at the end of the dark tunnel.”
Gov. Spencer Cox previously hinted that a volunteer program would be launched, especially at a time when the state expects to receive more vaccines and vaccinate more people starting in March.
He added that “a lot of planning” was needed to ensure that the growing supply of vaccines reached the arms of all Utah adults who wanted them, so they knew they would need all the help they could receive. The state has developed the talent for volunteering and the governor said he thanked everyone who has already contacted him to ask how they could help.
“We are grateful for the amazing volunteers we have in this state,” Cox said. “We will need you. We will need many of you. We will have to coordinate it in a way that makes sense and that we can use the volunteer workforce that we have here in the state.”