At Norton Healthcare, our vaccine clinic teams have led the charge by providing what often are described as “shots of hope.”

Story by: Henry Winkelhake on August 23, 2021

A year-and-a-half since the first COVID-19 case in the United States, the world continues to take great strides in recovering from the pandemic. At Norton Healthcare, our vaccine clinic teams have led the charge by providing what often are described as “shots of hope.”

COVID-19 vaccines became available in late December 2020 and our organization wasted no time in preparing to distribute this vital protection to our community. We opened Norton Healthcare Vaccine Clinics throughout the area, and employees quickly stepped up to staff them. Jill Eagan, R.N., Norton Children’s Hospital, was one of these employees. With the pandemic contributing to fewer patients at Norton Children’s Hospital, she and many of her co-workers were eager to lend their expertise wherever it was needed.

“Our employees love being at these clinics,” Jill said. “We’re just grateful to have this opportunity to serve our community.”

Early on, many employees at the vaccine clinics took additional shifts on top of their regular jobs, dedicating evenings and weekends to meet staffing requirements. In addition to administering vaccines, these teams’ duties consisted of preparing vaccines, circulating patient flow, registration, administrative leadership and clinical leadership.

“I started as a vaccinator and then become a site lead when we were doing employee vaccinations in the hospitals,” Jill said.

Jill now works as the clinical leader at Norton Healthcare Vaccine Clinic – St. Matthews. Norton Healthcare has delivered nearly 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

“There’s been an outpouring of gratitude from the patients at the vaccine clinics,” Jill said. “We’ve all had to look for positives from this pandemic, and for me, it’s been having the chance to help others return to the people and things they love.”