SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Volunteers with Meals on Wheels deliver dinners every day, but recently in Suffolk they added another option to the menu: COVID-19 vaccines.
“We actually identified our clients who either did not have family in the area, have been unable to get an appointment or who are completely home bound,” Suffolk Meals on Wheels Executive Director, Angelica Yankauskas, told WAVY.
The organization identified 23 clients, including Dianne Dailey. Her husband, Michael Dailey, told WAVY.com, “My wife had a stroke and she is bed bound so she can’t even walk out of the house.”
Without the team from Meals on Wheels and Suffolk Fire and Rescue, Michael Dailey said Diane would be left vulnerable as home nurses and repairmen visit their home.
“It puts my mind more at ease and I praise God that. It lessens the chance of her getting that dreadful COVID,” he said.
Three paramedics administered the shots over two days. Suffolk Fire & EMS Deputy Chief Brian Spicer said, “It was a pretty heavy lift per vaccine for our staff and for the planning element of it.”
That’s because the Pfizer vaccine they received from Bayview Physicians Group has to be put into an arm within six hours of it thawing.
They also encountered a few clients needed some extra attention. Yankauskas explained, “We went in and did her shot and then she pointed out to the paramedic that there was a beeping noise coming from her smoke detector, so he went and changed the batteries in her smoke detector. We went to the fire station to get her new batteries and before I knew it he was checking her light bulbs.”
Deputy Chief Spicer said they took good notes and learned a lot, “When we go back to do the second vaccines we’ve reduced that down to probably one day now given what we learned from the first outing.”
It’s no simple task, but to Michael Dailey and the others it helped, it is worth it. “It’s a blessing from God.”
