My wife Donna and I have reached advanced life status and thus were eligible for vaccinations to preclude the onset of CV-19.
Our health overseer, Hawai‘i Pacific Health, contacted us, urging us to make appointments for the vaccinations, and provided a portal website to accommodate us.
We made the appointments; they were for 10:00 and 10:15 a.m. on 21 January. A brochure from Wilcox Hospital, available as a download, provided all the particulars. We were instructed to try to get to the vaccination center at the hospital 15 minutes early, but not any earlier, and were directed to a specific entrance at the hospital.
Approaching the hospital, a team of health professionals verified our appointments, took our temperatures and directed us to sanitize our hands. Our appointments were 15 minutes apart, but once the welcoming staff saw that we were together our appointment times were combined. We had filled out a downloaded questionnaire regarding our health status that helped move things along. I would estimate there were over 50 people there at any one time.
We were efficiently steered to a vaccination team, which did the deed in less than three minutes. We were then escorted to an exit area where we received a form completed with the appointment date and time for our follow-up second shot.
We then were instructed to take a seat, and staff members constantly monitored our status for 15 minutes, and barring the existence of any serious symptoms were released.
Part of the release documentation was a form indicating a link to a site where we registered for a program to text us every day to ask about any reactions we may have had to the vaccinations.
We take this opportunity to express our extreme gratitude and appreciation to both Hawai‘i Pacific Health and to the staff at Wilcox Medical Center for the fine, professional services provided. This is a class act.
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John and Donna Carsten are residents of Wailua Homesteads.
