So the as the Sheriff.
I am also the director
of Emergency Services,
so the Office of Emergency
Service Emergency Services is
part of the Sheriff's Office.
This is fairly new.
It's been in the works for quite awhile,
but given all of the process that has
to be kind of gotten through to get
there that it actually became official.
Per County ordinance on Friday the 15th.
So it's very new,
although me and my staff and the team
at the Office of Emergency Services
has been deeply involved in this.
Really this being covid
since day one. Well, I mean there
there had been rumors more than
rumors. Some indicators
that that may come to pass,
and so the team really just said,
OK, if we're going to do that,
how do we do that and what does it look like?
We also kind of from a planning standpoint.
Went into it knowing that.
You know a quick process like that.
It's not going to be perfect.
There's going to be an element of chaos
to it, and I know like on that very
first morning on Thursday morning.
If you were out there,
you know there was some long lines.
There were snaked around people
pointing in different directions.
Where to go, you know?
But we truly viewed that as success
because I couldn't go back to what I said.
Our ultimate goal is getting
vaccine into peoples arms.
And so while we realize that
there's an element of frustration.
We are meeting that goal and
we're doing it quite well.
Well,
it could be just the scenic
site is not ideal for
that volume. Parking is extremely limited.
Everyone had to stand outside.
There's not really the ability to have
people kind of sheltered inside and the
driver for a lot of this is the 15 or 30
minute observation process at the back
end of the vaccine to make sure that.
And I just got a phone call that I'm trying
to get rid of to make sure that no one has.
An allergic reaction to it
and at scenic specifically.
We only had the capacity for 60 to 75 people
in the observation rooms at any one time.
So by moving it to Modesto,
Modesto Centre Plaza,
it's not only really in our downtown,
there is a lot more parking there that
you know for the public to make use of.
And it's really the biggest facility
indoor facility that we have in Modesto
that we can utilize between all of their
meeting rooms and ballrooms and whatnot.
There's a lot more space for people to
they're going to have to wait in line,
but they can do it indoors.
By and large, I'm sure that there will
still be some folks in the parking lot,
but the space is just makes it much easier.
You know at least Thursday
morning specifically, it was.
It was pretty cold outside,
and, you know, we realize,
especially as we talk 65 plus,
you have some folks that you
know we really don't want waiting
in that type of environment.
So if we can put him indoors much
better and then on that observation
side at the back end of the process.
We have a lot more room,
so we think we're going to be able to
really ramp up or throughput even more as
long as we can get the vaccines to do it.
That
is our goal, yes. Now with that
we have to have some additional
staff that were on boarding
as well through paramedics and
EMTs and volunteers and so on.
But we're trying to get them in
so that we have the staff needed
to do that between the space both
for four again line in the folks
up and then observing them at
the back and the additional staff
that we're bringing onboard.
Yeah, we do. We don't.
We don't have a number.
You know part of what we're trying to do
is under promise and over deliver you know.
So we had said we had told the Board
of Supervisors that we're confident
we could hit 1000 a day at scenic,
and we hit 1600 both days.
And that's where they are going.
We don't want to tell the public all
we can get 5000 or something and then
not be able to attain that number.
You know,
we want to give a real realistic
number and make sure that we
can get them all through on any
given day. So just like Modesto
Centre Plaza is kind of a
partnership with the City of Modesto,
and we certainly appreciate their
involvement in their help in this same
thing at Cal State down interlock at
California State University, Stanislaus.
And that's a partnership with the college.
Again, they have some large indoor
facilities that are not being
used right now due to covid,
and they also have the ability
to use some of their own staff,
whether their employees.
For some of their students that
are in the medical field to
assist us with this. Well, kind
of like a referenced earlier. You
know the vaccine is the true
solution to COVID-19 all of these
other measures that we've had.
You know, as far as you know, wearing masks,
social distancing, the shutdowns,
telling you know closing things,
all that is solely there to
slow the spread so that we can
maintain the hospital capacity.
Specifically, the ICU bed capacity
to treat either covid or any other
medical emergency that may came up.
That may come up heart attack,
a car crash, whatever the case.
The solution though, is the vaccine.
So we are trying to eliminate as much
bureaucracy and move as fast as possible
to get that vaccine out into peoples arms.
Let's face it,
everybody out there wants to go back to work.
They want their kids back in school,
and if vaccine is the solution,
we are not dragging our feet to get
it out there and into peoples arms.
We would rather operate in
a little bit of chaos or.
Uncertainty,
then to operate slowly,
so that has been kind of our whole push.
Yeah,
what I will tell you that
most of what we've heard from
those that went there when I'm
talking 90% plus is that yes,
there's a wait line and awake time.
But quite frankly,
it moved fairly quickly and efficiently.
The shortest that I've heard
is someone made it, you know,
door to door from their house to
get the vaccine and back home.
90 minutes. Most people,
probably in the three or four hour range.
Depending on how personal part of it depends
on how early they wanted to get in line.
So there is some heartburn with that.
Again, the I'll say you know we
view it as a success because we're
getting the vaccine in peoples arms.
Now we we that shouldn't be taken to
mean that we are not going to make
constant process improvements right?
So we're trying to bring more chairs
out there for people to sit in.
We had blankets,
coffee delivered water to try to
keep the folks waiting in line as
comfortable as they can.
You know, and probably the biggest
gripe that we've heard, though,
is why don't you go with some sort of
online or telephonic reservations system?
Potentially a drive through site.
Something like that specifically to the
first point about a reservation system.
I think we've seen since this
began all of these new system
this being covered since March.
All of these new systems that have
come into place an the delay that
they have the slowness that they
have in getting some things done
right because the system crashes.
The registration is slow.
Whatever the case may be.
The same thing telephonically,
same same problem.
You have to call and make an appointment.
There's a certain through that
will slow our throughput,
so the decision that we made we are going
to do this the simplest way possible,
and that's having people
line up an wait their turn.
It's just simple and it's efficient as
far as again going back to that number.
One goal. Getting vaccine into peoples arms.
So yeah,
at some level we are asking people
to inconvenience themselves if they
want to come to the Counties Clinic,
but it also lets us get the most
vaccine into peoples arms possible.
Let me let me add to that vaccine is
getting dispensed to other medical providers,
doctors, offices,
pharmacies and so on.
Many of those places are taking appointments.
So you know before you come
down and wait in line at now the
Modesto Centre Plaza or at the Cal
State facility or in Oakdale,
or in Paterson, reopen those facilities.
Check with whoever your doctor
is whatever clinic you use,
whatever pharmacy you used,
you might be able to schedule an
appointment there. Supply independent.