As Arizona continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, Banner Health workers are administering about 1,650 vaccines every day at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. In this footage, patients are seen as they go through the process of queuing in their vehicles to check-in with staff, receiving their vaccinations, and waiting at the observation area to make sure they’re not experiencing any adverse symptoms or reactions to the vaccine.
As of Jan. 20, more than 76,000 vaccines have been administered by Banner Health. Roughly 3,700 vaccines are administered each day by the organization.
“The vaccine is the beginning of the end of the pandemic,” said Dr. Marjorie Bessel, Banner Health’s chief clinical officer. “It is absolutely the bright spot on the horizon for us, especially now as we have so much COVID activity… happening in all of our communities.”
While these vaccinations bring hope to communities, the devastation of COVID-19 can still be seen in hospitals. In this footage, nurses at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix continue working tirelessly to treat some of the highest-risk patients in one of the COVID intensive care units. In one pod, some patients receive extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment, also known as ECMO, which provides cardiac and respiratory support to help keep them alive. Several of the patients on this unit are in their 20s and 30s.
“It’s heartbreaking to see these patients go through what they’re dealing with, and then on the other end, to see their family members struggle and be so upset at home and just wait by the phone all day, waiting for an update from us,” said Brittany Schilling, a bedside nurse in the medical ICU.
