The Southwick fire and health departments, along with the Senior Center, gave COVID-19 vaccines to homebound residents last week. Pictured left to right are, Board of Health Director Tammy Spencer, Senior Center Director Cindy Sullivan, Firefighter EMT Carrie Bradbury, Firefighter Paramedic Stephen Backman and Firefighter Paramedic Michael Newman. (RUSS ANDERSON PHOTO)
SOUTHWICK – In cooperation with the Southwick Board of Health and the Southwick Senior Center, Southwick Fire Department paramedics last week distributed the COVID-19 vaccine to homebound residents of Southwick and Granville.
These residents were not able to visit one of the various clinics in the area, said Fire Chief Russ Anderson.
Senior Center Director Cindy Sullivan said vaccine recipients did well.
“I have not heard of anyone having a reaction to the vaccine,” she said. “We did receive an email from one resident thanking us for having this program for the homebound. She also suggested we begin a program where we visit home bound clients once a year to make a connection with first responders. She suggested it would help ease the minds of home bound clients who may need medical attention. We are currently discussing this as an option.”
Sullivan said the Southwick Senior Center staff have assisted with COVID-19 testing and vaccinations for the older adults in the community.
“If people are in need of a homebound vaccine, they can call the Senior Center or the Board of Health,” said Sullivan. “If there is demand/need for it, the Board of Health can request more vaccine.”
Currently, there is no additional homebound vaccine event planned. Sullivan said anyone who needs assistance can contact her.
“If people are not homebound but would like the vaccine, we can schedule appointments for them and for seniors we can provide transportation to the vaccination site,” Sullivan said. “The day we did the homebound clinic people were very thankful to receive the vaccine. The Fire Department and the Board of Health were amazing with our residents and our community is so thankful to have such compassionate people working in our Town.”
Anderson said as positive test cases decrease and vaccinations increase, adherence to state guidelines should continue.
“While the amount of cases appears to be dropping, we still are getting new cases and must be diligent,” Anderson said. As far as fire personnel, Anderson said the SPD has “not had any firefighter affected in a few months but there is still the possibility.”
Anderson said having advanced level support at the fire department helped make the homebound vaccinations possible.
“This is a matter of circumstances but when we began the move to a medic service there was no thoughts of a pandemic but without this expansion, we would not have been able to offer these services. Nobody knows what the future brings but being at the advanced life support level brings with it many benefits to the wellbeing of our residents,” he said.
