School Districts Work to Get Essential Employees Vaccinated

Area hospitals and health departments are working overtime to expand their vaccine delivery to the next phase of priority patients.

The next group includes educators and those who work in schools. But there will be different solutions for different school districts. Educators and other school employees are in Tier 1-B of the priority list, and some communities are ready to start scheduling vaccinations.

Forest Area Schools Superintendent Josh Rothwell says, “The 1B group is a very big group. Being able to get that vaccine into northern Michigan from where it’s shipped is tough in itself. Then getting it out to those employees of those different districts is a pretty monumental task.”

At Forest Area Schools, administrators were already working with the health department to try to schedule a clinic for their staff. But while they were waiting, Kalkaska Memorial Health Center was able to schedule an after-hours clinic, so staff could attend outside of school hours.

Jeremy Cannon is the Kalkaska Memorial Health Center’s Chief Nursing Officer. He says helping the schools was a priority. “We all understand, we’ve got jobs. It’s important that the kids that have to get in-person learning … get their education, and that the teachers are available to provide that.  So what we did was schedule clinics after school between about 3 and 6 pm.”

Rothwell says, “I was really chomping at the bit to get that shot myself. So, it was really nice for the hospital to reach out and be able to do that for all of our staff members at Forest Area as well.”

Kalkaska Memorial was also able to schedule vaccination clinics for employees at Mancelona and Kalkaska Schools. Cannon says, “We recognize we have three school districts within our service area. We wanted to make sure teachers have access to the vaccine. So we put together a process to get that done.”

The Forest Area Superintendent says he’s talked with other superintendents across northern Michigan who are deciding whether to cancel classes for a day so all teachers and staff can get the vaccine, or if they’ll have to find a way to cover their classes while they’re out to get that shot in the arm.  He says it’s a logistical hurdle for any health department. “You have to support the health department as well because they’re bending over backwards. Those people are working an unbelievable numbers of hours since this started. I don’t think we can lay blame. I just think it’s a really funky time and everybody wants a vaccine at the same time.”

Rothwell adds, “We were very fortunate. Unfortunately other schools are struggling a little bit.”

Meanwhile Munson Healthcare in Traverse City says they are actively working with local health departments to figure out how to best schedule vaccination clinics specifically for educators. An announcement could come later this week.