Lisa Orlando, a Bayada health care worker assigned to schools who saw her hours cut during the pandemic, gets a shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday at Geisinger CenterPoint in Jenkins Township. Orlando, of Old Forge, was among the first people to take advantage of Geisinger’s new push to get the vaccine out into the community. The mother of a 6-month-old son, she looks forward to the day her child can meet his extended family in New Jersey.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
New mother talks about getting vaccine, looks forward to son meeting his family
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JENKINS TWP. — Even after admitting she hates needles, Lisa Orlando had some really good reasons to be happy about getting a COVID-19 vaccine injection Wednesday at Geisinger’s newly-opened community vaccination center in Jenkins Township: More hours at work, less fear doing necessary trips, and an eventual chance to let her six-month-old son finally meet her family in New Jersey.
“A lot has changed” since the pandemic started, the 23-year-old resident of Old Forge said as she waited the obligatory 15 minutes to watch for side effects after the shot (she had none).
Orlando works for Bayada providing health services at a school that is teaching remotely, so “I lost a lot of hours.” Her husband works at the airport where passenger counts plummeted so he lost hours to. And then there was the birth of Landon.
“He’s six months old today,” she said, presumably smiling under the mask at Geisinger’s CenterPoint building.
“We didn’t have a baby shower,” Orlando noted, though friends and family did buy gifts online and have them shipped directly to her home. When it came time for delivery (she opted for induced labor to better control events in such an uncertain environment), she had to get tested for COVID-19. Once the tests proved negative, she was stuck in one place.
“I couildn’t leave the room,” she said. Her husband stayed with her, stuck in the same room except for essential trips home for things like feeding pets. That lasted five days. And even after leaving, she couldn’t really show off the newest family member to family.
“I’m tired of all of this,” Orlando said. And asked what she misses most she didn’t hesitate: “Seeing my family. My family from New Jersey couldn’t be with us.”
They still haven’t met Landon.
Priority groups
Geisinger vice-president of health services Allison Hess said the health system finished vaccinating employees “within the hospital platform” and wanted to begin offering the shots to the community.
The state has set up a priority list of four groups, currently allowing vaccinations for group 1A, which includes a wide range of people in the medical field: Chiropractors, clinical personnel in school or university settings, contracted healthcare personnel not directly employed by a health care facility, dentists and dental hygienists, direct support professionals, EMS, medical students and trainees, non-Geisinger providers and their staffs, nurses, nursing assistants, persons not directly involved in patient care but potentially exposed to infectious material that can transmit disease, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, phlebotomists, physicians, technicians and therapists.
This vaccination center has been set up in space in the CenterPoint facility at 300 Keystone Ave. because of the access granted right off Interstate 81 and because it has ample room that can be expanded if demand increases. Hess said the space in use usually houses insurance teams, but they are able to work at home, explaining not only the roomy area for individual visitors to answer a few questions and get the shot, but also the many empty desks beyond that.
Geisinger had administered 18,000 doses as of Tuesday, Hess said, getting shipments weekly from the state, though the number of doses in each shipment varies. Vaccines are available to anyone in the state’s phase 1A group, but an appointment is required. More information is available on the web at geisinger.org or by calling 570-284-3657
“We’re excited to enter into this next phase of distribution,” Hess said.
As for Orlando, she said there was never any doubt she would get the vaccine as soon as available to her. She’s looking forward to returning to full-time work as schools re-open, regular activities as the vaccine is administered to more people, and introducing Landon to some relatives eager to see him in person.
Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish