Small BI office takes on big COVID-19 task

Bainbridge Island has its own “Little Engine That Could” story.

Member Plus Family Health, a family practice with only a staff of five, provided 250 COVID-19 Moderna vaccines in its first week and planned to do at least another 120 this week.

Medical assistant Heidi Mainwaring-Pickering was “very proactive” in registering with Kitsap Public Health District to get the vaccines, practice manager Laurie Isenman said.

“She didn’t waste any time,” Isenman said. “I wasn’t very optimistic.”

But when they got to work last Monday, there was a Fed Ex box with 300 doses in it. The health district had sent them an email over the weekend, but since it was Christmas nobody saw it.

Immediately they contacted their patients who had elective appointments that week and asked if they could delay them. Then staff called folks in the community: health care workers like dental, optical, mental health, acupuncture and other front-line workers since they are all in Phase 1.

Because of the special care the vaccine needs, the clinic workers also were able to give shots to really sick patients who otherwise would have to wait until Phase 2. Isenman explained how that worked.

The vaccines are frozen and need to be thawed for an hour. Each vial provides 10 doses. If someone doesn’t show up or is disqualified like for health reasons that means they have an extra dose. They need to use it or lose it. “You don’t want to throw vaccines away,” Isenman said, adding the discretionary doses were provided to very sick people. “We’re not making the rules the state is.”

She said the only reason Dr. Blaine Crandell’s office can do the work is because Rolf Hogger donated the use of a nearby suite that was empty. “We wouldn’t have the space” in our doctor’s office, Isenman said, adding the other option was drive-through but that would not have been good in bad weather.

She said the process itself is fairly simple. People come in, fill out forms, get their shot and then wait 15 to 30 minutes before leaving as the medical team watches for any adverse reactions. Isenman said they haven’t had any so far.

“The challenge isn’t getting it in their arms; it’s all the other stuff,” Isenman said; they have a stack of paperwork a foot high and that’s after working a few hours after the final vaccine each day inputting information into the system. “Giving out the vaccine is not where we need the help.”

The staff also will be providing the follow-up shots in 28 days. The next round of vaccines will go to those over 75 with compromised health conditions.

Isenman said her team has been working so hard, seeing regular patients, too.

“We didn’t get a holiday,” she said of New Year’s. “This is not a money-maker; it will end up costing us. But it’s something we want to do for our community.”

She said Crandell has to be there as the clinic’s doctor. “He’s putting his time in, too.”