950 People vaccinated at drive-thru clinic at fairgrounds
/Vaccinations up 200 over previous drive-thru clinic
Vehicles of participants wait inside the Klamath County Event Center to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. As part of the Klamath Health Partnerships drive-thru vaccination clinic. April 7, 2021. (Image, Brian Gailey / Klamath Falls News)
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. - On Wednesday, approximately 950 people were vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at the Klamath Health Partnership’s drive-thru clinic. Most participants were in and out in twenty-five minutes.
“The event was a great success. We had several comments about how quickly patients were moved between checkpoints,” said Amanda Blodgett, Chief Operations Officer of Klamath Health Partnership.
“We learned from last week’s event and made several adjustments for this event. Such as having a special line just for unregistered participants,” explained Blodgett.
Adult participants were asked to pre-register online for the clinic run by Klamath Health Partnership (KHP). KHP was able to accommodate about 100 walk-in participants without disrupting the flow.
Participants check into the drive-thru clinic. April 7, 2021. (Image, Brian Gailey / Klamath Falls News)
Cars first lined up outside the west gate near the location of the Kentner Beef Barn. Here, they were verified as a pre-registered participant before moving on.
After verification, they moved into the Stillwell Arena where they answered a health questionnaire and completed a medical risk assessment with a medical professional. After this process, the participants then made their way across the fairgrounds to the Event Center building where the inoculation took place.
Finally, participants drove out of the Event Center and onto the south parking lot for a 15-minute observation period before completing the drive-thru clinic.
Using this drive-thru event plan, Blodgett estimates that they were able to vaccinate up to 300 people per hour today.
“It went really well today with no major issues,” said Blodgett.
Blodgett added that they worked out a system to keep the clinic sterile in this environment:
Individual doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were carefully loaded into syringes from larger vials inside a secure location on site,
Sharps were never reused and disposed of correctly,
Providers changed gloves for every injection,
Alcohol wipes were used to clean the participant’s injection site prior to the injection, and
The arena floors were thoroughly cleaned, packed down, and wet by fairgrounds staff to make the surface smooth and dust-free.
“We are grateful for the amazing support from the community,” added Blodgett. “Klamath County Fairgrounds, Klamath Community College, Klamath County School District, and Rocky Mountain Construction's support were instrumental to today’s success. We also had staffing support from Klamath Basin Behavioral Health, Klamath County, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Cascade Health Alliance, and several individuals from the community who volunteered their time.”
