The Utah State Developmental Center in American Fork received 500 vaccinations delivered to them on Thursday, allowing for a healthy dose of shots to staff and residents at the facility.
“Our resident population are people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and most of them have a lot of complex medical issues and are hence, medically fragile,” said Frank Rees, superintendent at the USDC. “We are really excited to have them become vaccinated, and then of course the staff need to be vaccinated because they take care of these individuals 24 hours a day, seven days a week and have a lot of exposure with them. It’s a good thing for us, it brings hope.”
The USDC is the only state-operated intermediate care facility for people with developmental disabilities in Utah, offering the highest level of care available in the state, according to Rees. The main goal at the facility is to help patients improve and obtain the highest level of functionality possible to get them back into the community where they can continue to grow and live a normal life.
Most of the staff and residents who Rees had spoken to about the vaccine were excited about receiving it. The facility has had to be extremely cautious because of how medically fragile some of the residents are and with the vaccine being administered, some restrictions will now be lowered.
The vaccine allows for a full range of care that has been on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, including visitation, physical therapy, dental care and more.
The vaccine now gives staff at the center a sense of relief.
“The staff has had a lot of concerns, mostly for the residents who are here because of their medical complexity and fragility, but they’ve also been concerned for themselves and their families,” Rees said. “This is lifting a whole lot of concern that staff (members) have and it’s allowing them to do the full range of service throughout our campus. People are feeling a sense of freedom coming with this.”
Along with that sense of relief comes a sense of rejuvenation. Rees characterized it as a spark.
“We can finally see a finish line, and we can roll up our sleeves and make that final push to make sure that we are doing everything we can do for our own protection, and even more importantly for the protection of the individuals we serve,” Rees said. “People today, as they were being vaccinated, were jovial, they were just relieved. That might be the best expression of how they are feeling. A lot of relief.”
Another good thing to come with vaccination in the center is the ability to fully engage in therapy while also mixing groups of residents again.
During the pandemic, many groups were isolated to help prevent a COVID-19 outbreak. This had some residents quarantined away from their friends.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also brought its challenges, leaving workers exhausted. With community spread being high, many staff members contracted COVID-19 and were forced to stay home.
This led to others having to step in to help. Even Rees helped staff the facility.
“We’ve had to go the extra mile so much that it is tiring and it’s been kind of hard to sustain,” Rees said. “So now that the vaccine is here, it gives us renewed hope and will start being a solution to many of those problems.”
With some of the COVID-19 concerns diminished for the immediate future, it should allow staff, residents and their families to breathe a sigh of relief.
January 09, 2021
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Vaccination delivery a morale booster at Utah State Developmental Center - Daily Herald
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