SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — Tuesday was a day of hope for some workers who have been taking care of people fighting COVID-19.
Beaumont Health invited WXYZ to capture history in the making as it gave the first doses of the new Pfizer vaccine it received to workers. The workers who received the new Pfizer vaccine are just some of the staff who have risked their own health to care for patients fighting COVID-19.
“We’ve lost so many patients over the last few months, said Dr. Nick Gilpin, Beaumont’s Medical Director for Infection Prevention after he received the first dose delivered in the system.
In March Dr. Gilpin spoke at a press conference after the first person in Michigan lost their life to COVID-19. As he watched other workers received the vaccine he said he felt hope.
“I hope and I believe that getting this vaccine will get us to a better place where we don’t have to see the 1000 or 2000 deaths a day we are seeing right now,” said Dr. Gilpin.
The health system with thousands of workers received 975 vaccines in the shipment just received from Pfizer. It is offering them first to workers in a “high priority group” who have been taking care of COVID patients.
“The last month and a half or so have been really hard again,” said Pamela Rose, a Registered Nurse at Beaumont Farmington Hills, who received the vaccine.
Rose says she has cared for COVID-19 patients through the pandemic. It is heartbreaking to see them fight this terrible disease separated from those who love them, sometimes until the end.
“It is a lot to go to work every day and to put on a smile and comfort people who can’t have people with them, “ she said.
Nurse Rose says she is from Kalamazoo and is feeling not just hope, but pride that the vaccine she believes will save many lives was made here in Michigan in her hometown.