At a time when hospitals were faced with the challenge of getting vaccines out to the public, the team at the UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital knew they needed help, according to Julie Adams, manager of volunteer and guest services, As soon as the word got out, volunteers who have lent their time to hospital efforts in the past, quickly stepped up to the plate, she said.
“It always is (easy) with volunteers,” she said. “They are very dedicated and we didn't have too much trouble. They know it’s the right thing to do.”
Since December, a team of 15 community volunteers has participated in three-hour shifts to support the hospital’s staff administering dozens of vaccines every week, according to Adams.
The hospital administers nearly 500 vaccines daily, with supplies increasing over the several weeks, said Kelly Tracer, UCHealth senior media relations specialist.
Cheryl Brown started volunteering at the Longs Peak Hospital in 2019, doing patient visits. Since volunteering efforts were halted for nearly a year due to the pandemic, she was excited to get the call to come back and support the vaccination program, she said.
“I love what I do there,” she said. “I love this community and welcome the opportunity to be able to give back and help in the COVID efforts.”
The first day Brown volunteered at the clinic, she recalled a woman crying after getting the vaccine and thinks that for many, the vaccine clinic feels like walking into a “doorway for them to be able to see their families again,” she said.
Dick Grosz has volunteered at Longs Peak Hospital since shortly after the hospital opened in 2017 and joined the vaccination efforts after getting his second dose.
“People are so excited to get the vaccines,” he said. “One individual came in and said ‘I’m finally going to see my grandchildren again,’ this story got repeated over and over and over again. Last Friday everyone who came was for a second shot, and it was like they were walking on air.”
At Longs Peak Hospital, volunteers help serve as greeters at the front entrance to help people feel more comfortable coming into the clinic, assist with taking people’s temperatures and navigate the space, Adams said. Others help with logistics and making sure traffic is moving as it should be.
Today marks the beginning of National Volunteer Week and with it an opportunity to pay tribute to the individuals supporting COVID-19 vaccination efforts on the front lines.
Astrid Villalobos, the sustainability program assistant at the city of Longmont, served as a volunteer coordinator during the vaccination clinic the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Boulder County and Boulder County SUMA organized in partnership with Servicios de la Raza and Gov. Jared Polis’ Vaccines for All plan on Apr. 10.
Nearly 700 drive-thru vaccines were administered in the Front Range Community College parking lot with the support of over 35 volunteers working four hour shifts to cover the seven and a half hour event, she said.
"The clinic was a great collaboration between various organizations," she said. "It was all thanks to the work of the volunteers, some focused on some areas and some on others for the event to flow and turn out great."
The Latino Chamber, Servicios de la Raza and local partners and Latino businesses led recruitment efforts to provide access to members of the Latinx and immigrant communities in the Boulder County and Longmont areas, according to Berenice García Tellez, economic sustainability specialist at the City of Longmont.
Villalobos said local businesses and nonprofit organizations also stepped up to bring music, food and joy during the event.
"Apart from the vaccine, we wanted to make the event a fun one, so people could feel more comfortable," she said. "There were bilingual people helping out so they could communicate with people who don't speak English."
The goal of this clinic was to bring more equity to vaccination efforts and volunteers were key in providing reassurance to participating community members as well as information about resources across the community, according to Villalobos.
“Some people are afraid to get the vaccine because they don't know if they will be asked for an identification or some kind of documentation when they are in line. Our community is struggling with this aspect because of immigration status issues, among others, and we wanted something that was more comfortable for them,” she said. “We don't have to be afraid of being vaccinated. We are doing it for the good of all. "
Making these kinds of clinics happen takes the coordination and work of multiple teams, according to Stacey Jackson, manager of volunteer services at Longmont United Hospital., or LUH.
“It was like a team. It really took an entire team of clinical and nonclinical folks to make this (vaccine clinics) happen in quick turnaround times,” she said. “It was a community effort, the hospital with all other hospitals and clinics answering that call to make it happen.”
At LUH, the volunteer body is very diverse, comprising high school students all the way up to people into their 90s, working people, people going to school and retirees who bring their expertise and passion to their service, Jackson said.
Lisa Knipp volunteered at LUH for over a year doing patient ambassador work right before the pandemic hit. She believes volunteers have the ability to bring a level of relatedness to patients that can support the healing work a medical environment does.
“A volunteer provides a level of compassion and comfort that a nonmedical person sometimes can relate to a little bit differently,” she said. “Approaching patients or staff from a nonmedical perspective, bringing a warm blanket, helping to get a book, getting the therapy dog, it just creates a great connection with the community.”
In the midst of a big career change, Knipp found volunteering as a way to become part of something and gain a sense of purpose.
For Brown, feeling valued by patients and staff alike is a key reward she gets to reap from her volunteering work, she said. For Grosz, it is the opportunity to meet a wide variety of people in the community through his volunteering, he said. “Volunteering is a very selfish activity because we gain so much from it,” he said.
