Healthcare Workers Caught In Snowstorm Vaccinate Fellow Stranded Drivers

The COVID-19 vaccinations have been nothing short of a miracle, but deploying them has been less easy with many doses becoming expired before they could be administered. One healthcare group, however, refused to let any dose go to waste despite a raging snowstorm that left them stranded in the middle of nowhere.

The Josephine County Public Health staff and volunteers were conducting a mass vaccination event at the Illinois Valley High School (IVHS). On their way back to Grants Pass, they found themselves stranded on Highway 199 near Hayes Hill due to a raging snowstorm.

The personnel still had six doses of vaccines to administer to Grants Pass residents. However, the delay caused by the storm meant these doses would expire before they got there.

That's when the personnel came up with an ingenious idea: administering the remaining vaccines to fellow drivers caught in the storm. They went from car to car and asked drivers and passengers if they wanted to be vaccinated.

An ambulance from AMR Josephine County was also present to guarantee safety. The staff and volunteers ended up finding six willing recipients that included a Josephine County Sheriff's Office employee who had arrived too late for the IVHS clinic. Talk about serendipity!

According to a Facebook post, JCPH Director Mike Weber said it was "one of the coolest operations he'd been a part of."

In times like this, we owe a great deal of gratitude to the amazing healthcare workers that risk their lives every day to help others and that come up with such brilliant ways to help keep people safe from this raging virus. It's stories like these that renew our faith in humanity during trying times.