JANESVILLE, Wis. – Vaccination has begun for frontline health care employees at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Janesville.
Registered Nurse Claire Kuschel was the first to be vaccinated Sunday morning.
“This is what we’ve all been waiting for,” Kuschel said. “I’ve been asking the infection prevention nurse multiple times when we’re going to get the vaccine and how I can get it. She mentioned to me I can start signing up. I was the first one on the list.”
Kuschel said her life has drastically changed since the onset of the pandemic for both herself and her family.
SSM Health St Mary’s Hospital in Janesville gave its very first vaccine today to RN Claire Kuschel! They plan to give out 700 vaccines to frontline staff in the next two weeks.
Why Claire is the first to get it- tonight on #News3Now @WISCTV_News3 pic.twitter.com/A6aZffSkuP
— Adam Duxter (@News3Adam) December 27, 2020
“It’s been a tough time for all of us, having to deal with this,” she said. “Knowing that there’s not much we do know about this virus, it almost makes you feel helpless. We’re just trying to do the best we can to make them feel better and more comfortable.”
SSM Health St. Mary’s President Eric Thornton says the healthcare system’s 700 employees will likely all receive the first round of vaccinations within the next two weeks.
“It’s optimism,” he said. “Its that next step in the process where we can finally start to move back to being somewhat normal. I also think it’s a great sign for our employees that we’re able to provide them with a vaccine which we’ve been wanting to do for some time. It just allows them to stay healthy so they can take exceptional care of our patients.”
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