Rotary Club receives donations for Empty Stocking, Powers gives Baptist Health Corbin’s update on COVID vaccines and construction projects

Baptist Health Corbin’s President Anthony Powers recently presented the Corbin Rotary Club with a check worth $6,180 for its Empty Stocking Fun.

The money comes from employees, who purchase “blue jean stickers” for $2 to wear on Friday’s, said a spokesperson from the hospital.

“The money is collected all year and then is used to help our employees and their families at Christmas time. We donate the extra to help our community,” said the spokesperson.

In addition to presenting the check, Powers also gave an update about the hospital’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

Beginning Jan. 25, Baptist Health Corbin moved its COVID-19 vaccinations center to The Corbin Center across the street from the hospital.

On Jan. 25, the hospital was able to administer over 300 vaccines, said Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Sherrie Mays, MSN, RN.

The center is being run by retired nurses who have volunteered to come back to help with the process.

“We have it staffed with retired nurses who were willing to come back and help our community out,” said Mays. “We need all the nurses we’ve got taking care of our patients here in the hospital.”

Mays said that several of the nurses were eager to help and actually reached out to her offering their help.

“I actually had several retired nurses who contacted me and said, ‘if you need me to do any-thing, let me know,’ and when the vaccine started coming out, I made a few phone calls and HR made a few phone calls for me and we were able to get several retired nurses to help us with that,” said Mays.

The relocation of the vaccine center allows the hospital to focus on sick patients while also streamlining the process for receiving the vaccine.

“By relocating it from the hospital, this will allow us to streamline the process and allow for more social distancing as well as easier parking for our patients,” the hospital wrote in a press release. “We will be focusing on vaccinating health care workers, first responders, as well as people 70 and older, by appointment only.”

“We want to make it a smooth process and easier access for our community,” said Anthony Powers, president of Baptist Health Corbin. “The entire vaccination process will take about 45 minutes for people to be screened, vaccinated, and observed for any adverse reactions.”

The center is currently taking appointments for individuals in phases 1a and 1b online at ScheduleYourVaccine.com, though almost all of the appointments currently available are booked.

The Vaccination Center is appointment only because of the limited supply of doses and quick process.

“This allows us to prepare the number of doses needed per day with no waste. It is a very time sensitive vaccine. We expect to administer about 420 doses a day,” said Powers.

According to the press release, teachers should reach out to their administration to find out who is vaccinating their district.

The vaccination center will not be able to accept walk-ins. Individuals must make an appointment to receive the vaccine. The link to make an appointment is ScheduleYourVaccine.com.

Powers also talked about projects in the hospital, including the radiation treatment center, which is expected to open in April. The center is the largest expansion the hospital has right now, but it has started planning for a new building tower that is expected to start construction in the next couple of years. Power said the tower will increase the size of the hospital by about a third – it will contain a new emergency department, a new women’s health center, and a new critical care department.

In addition to receiving the donation from the hospital, the Rotary Club recognized Brandon Pratt for sponsoring the giveaway of 66 bicycles during the 2020 Empty Stocking Fund event.

Chair of the Empty Stocking Fund, Joe Caldwell, said, “He couldn’t see us not having bicycles this year.”

Pratt is the owner of the local landscaping company, Pratt’s Landscaping, LLC.