UCHealth receives award from SVVSD for teacher vaccination efforts

Exactly one year after UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital saw its first COVID-19 positive case enter its emergency department, the St. Vrain Valley School district presented a group of hospital representatives the Superintendent's Excellence in Education Award.

During Wednesday night’s SVVSD board meeting, Superintendent Don Haddad welcomed the UCHealth team tasked with supporting the district’s vaccination program to thank them in person for their continued support and collaboration.

On Feb. 8, Gov. Jared Polis green lighted the eligibility of educators across the state to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Within two weeks of the announcement, 94% of SVVSD’s eligible staff was on its way to secure an appointment to receive the vaccine, according to Haddad.

“All employees who want to receive the vaccination have had the opportunity to schedule a vaccination appointment, most of which were in the first two weeks of eligibility beginning February 8,” said Kerri McDermid, chief communications and global impact officer at SVVSD, in an email. “This would mean that many have also already received their scheduled second vaccination or will receive in the next two weeks.”

Haddad said during the meeting that second doses should be completed prior to or through Spring Break. 

“The kind of pressure and anxiety that they (vaccines) alleviated amongst our teachers and our staff is really hard to describe,” he said, adding UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital has worked as the “perfect partner” with the district to respond to this crisis in order to engage in a fast-acting and effective effort to get teaching staff vaccinated.

“If you could ever hit something better than a grand slam, that’s what these folks have hit for us and for this community,” he said. “Words cannot describe how appreciative I and we are.”

Lonnie Cramer, president of UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital and Broomfield Hospital, said the the recognition was a timely reminder of the challenges the community has undergone for the past twelve months. 

“Today is a very monumental day for UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital we recognized this morning in our safety huddle, this time one year ago our first COVID positive patient opted into our (emergency department),” he said. “It's hard to believe that we’ve been in this fight for a year now. Today is the day.”

SVVSD has partnered with UCHealth on other programs, including the Future-Ready Innovation Lab, a mobile technology and innovation center that extends science, technology, engineering and math learning beyond the classroom, which is funded by UCHealth among several other corporate and nonprofit sponsorships. 

“We’ve been a partner with you since the very beginning,” Cramer said. “I feel (SVVSD is) setting the standard for education today, not just in Colorado but throughout the nation.”

The hospital system was able to easily coordinate a vaccination strategy given the efforts of the school district, said Jason Amrich, vice president of operations at UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital and Broomfield Hospital.

“One thing that has impressed me is the passion and advocacy that (Haddad) and Jackie (Kapushion, deputy superintendent at SVVSD) exhibited on behalf of the students and the school district, really trying to make sure that everyone got taken care of,” he said.