‘This means hope' — Long-awaited vaccine arrives at a Woodside nursing home
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Queens Boulevard Extended Care Facility Administrator Dr. Jonathan Mawere received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Woodside nursing home Wednesday. Eagle photo by David Brand
By David Brand
Kamani Tymen has kept older New Yorkers safe and healthy throughout the COVID pandemic, first as a home health aide and, starting three months ago, as a certified nursing assistant at a Woodside nursing home.
On Wednesday morning, Tymen finally got the chance to keep herself safe, too. She received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine inside the cafeteria at Queens Boulevard Extended Care Facility.
“It’s something that I wanted to do to protect myself and to protect my family and patients,” Tymen said from her place in line.
She was one of about 360 staff members and residents at the facility who began lining up to receive their first vaccine shots Wednesday. The 280-bed nursing home has been commended for largely stifling the spread of COVID-19, though seven residents have died from confirmed or likely cases of the virus, according to state Health Department data.
“This for us is a tremendous game-changer given what we have been through,” said nursing home administrator Dr. Jonathan Mawere.
Mawere said the moment reminded him of his mother, who died of COVID-19 in April at a Long Island hospital. He was at work in Woodside when a doctor called to say his mother, 71, wouldn’t make it, he said.
“Even though I didn’t get to say goodbye to my mom, I know my mother is so happy. I know that she’s smiling from the clouds that I did the right thing to make sure that most of the residents survived,” Mawere said, before receiving his first shot from healthcare worker Raymond Tsang.
Certified Nursing Assistant Kamani Tymen waited on line to receive her first dose of the COVID vaccine Wednesday morning at the Queens Boulevard Extended Care Facility in Woodside. Eagle photo by David Brand
Just after 8 a.m., a front desk staff member got on the hospital PA system to announce that distribution was about to begin
More than 30 staff members, spaced six feet apart, started lining up along the first floor hallway to receive their shots from healthcare workers from CVS and Walgreens. The two companies won federal contracts to distribute the vaccines at nursing homes across the country starting Dec. 18.
As of Wednesday morning, 78,530 people had received their first dose of the vaccine in New York City, Health Department data shows. Healthcare workers, nursing home residents and first responders have been the first groups prioritized for the vaccine.
“For me, the vaccine means hope,” said Dr. Nicole Adams, a nursing home psychologist with three children 10 and under.
The coronavirus has dominated her sessions with residents, but the prospect of the vaccine has provided some relief for staff, clients and family members, Adams said.
“Death, dying, grief, bereavement for an entire year is not the typical experience,” she said. “The vaccine means hope in a way we haven’t seen in a long time and introduces hope into our conversations.”
Dr. Ronald Iannacone, a podiatrist, was one of the first staff members to be inoculated Wednesday. He said the vaccine was a major relief after treating patients at the nursing home and his private clinic in Brooklyn throughout the pandemic.
By coincidence, his brother, a podiatrist in Florida, was also receiving the vaccine Wednesday morning. Iannocone said he looks forward to eventually being able to spend more time with his 93-year-old mother on Long Island.
“I see her, but she sits there and I sit 10 feet away from her,” he said. “I’m just trying to do everything humanly possible to keep everybody safe.”
Iannacone and the other staff and residents will return to the nursing home cafeteria for their second dose of the vaccine on Jan. 20.
Not everyone at the nursing home opted to get the vaccine on Wednesday, however.
Despite risking their own health while treating people during the pandemic, many essential workers, including staff at Queens Boulevard Extended Care Facility, have remained dubious about the new inoculations from Pfizer and Moderna.
Mawere said administrators and supervisors planned to get their shots early to set an example, the latest piece of an education campaign to diffuse the sort of misinformation spreading on social media.
Already, he said, several employees and residents who were wary of the vaccine decided to get it when the time came Wednesday.
That mirrors what healthcare providers and nursing homes across the city have been experiencing, said Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, who attended the vaccine rollout at the Woodside nursing home.
“Just in the last week or two, some people who didn’t think they would get the vaccine are now changing their minds,” Chokshi said.
For Tymen, the CNA, the decision to get the vaccine met with some skepticism from family members in South Ozone Park. “Why would you do that?” she said they told her Wednesday morning as she headed into work.
Tymen said she too had some trepidation, but she knew it was the right thing to do for herself and her community.
She’s hoping her family will do the same.
“I told them that and they said, ‘Well if you do it, let us know how it goes and we’ll get it too,” Tymen said just before she entered the cafeteria to get her shot.
