PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Penn Medicine has been actively vaccinating employees since the end of December. They are beginning to transition to patients, and they credit their nurses, with many stepping away from management roles to administer the vaccine.
Chief human resources officer for Pennsylvania Hospital Christine Tierney, who also has her master's degree in nursing, said this past year has been challenging.
"On any given day we weren't sure what was coming through the door. But the last year has shown us the resiliency of the health care community," Tierney said.
And then at long last, the vaccine arrived, and they were first in the system to go ahead with the vaccine program, she said.
"Dec. 16 we vaccinated our very first patient. For the first month or so we have been vaccinating our employees. We are just about down that," she said.
And now they are preparing to pivot to vaccinate patients in high-risk categories. But Tierney said none of this would be possible without the nurses.
"So we had about 100 nurses on a call. And we said, 'this is a call to duty program. We are at war and now have a weapon that is coming in the form of a vaccine. And we need you to all step up.' Our nurses didn't hesitate. In the first hour after we posted the schedule, every slot was full," she said.
Tierney sees vaccine clinics across the country being forced to close due to lack of vaccine. She said they have not had to do so at Penn Medicine and they remain grateful for that.
