Portneuf Medical Center administers first COVID-19 vaccine to frontline members
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - Portneuf Medical Center (PMC) began administering COVID-19 vaccinations to front line team members Thursday. PMC expects to administer over 450 vaccinations from this first shipment.
“This is a historic moment for our organization, for our team members and for the community,” said Jordan Herget, CEO of Portneuf Medical Center. “We have been preparing to receive and administer this shipment of doses from the State of Idaho and the health districts, who are managing distribution. Our team members have dedicated themselves to caring for members of our community and we appreciate that they are among the first priority group to receive the protection of the vaccine. While the vaccine may be the beginning of the end of the pandemic, we recognize the toll this disease has had on our team members and community.”
Bernadette Bradburn, RN, Case Management, was the first PMC employee to receive the vaccine. She has worked for Portneuf for six years, has been a nurse for 13 years and is a breast cancer survivor. Bradburn has been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time.
The vaccination was given by Randee Hokanson, RN, Employee Health Supervisor. Hokanson has been a member of the Portneuf team for 11 years. Hokanson and her team, Maggie Jablonski, NP and Louise Zalusky-Kamm, MT, infection prevention lead, have been educating and helping protect our staff and community from COVID-19 since December 2019. This is an exciting and overwhelming moment for each of them.
“Today marks the beginning of the next phase of this pandemic,” said Dan Snell, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Portneuf Medical Center. “I am proud and honored to be a part of the PMC team and a member of the Pocatello community. Everyone has been affected, everyone has sacrificed. On behalf of our team, I want to thank you and encourage continued diligence in wearing masks, physical distancing and frequent handwashing in the weeks and months to come, until most of the population has been vaccinated.”
Following the CDC recommendations for tiering of COVID-19 vaccinations, Portneuf is vaccinating only front line team members and providers at this time. This process will continue over weeks as shipments of the vaccine are received.
