Let me get the important information in this article out of the way up front before I tell the story. Dr. Wilson at Texas Health Family Care is receiving 70 doses of COVID-19 Vaccine per day.
When I asked him about the availability of the required second dose in 21 days he said: “I anticipate that we will continue to receive 70 doses per day through Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Network, as long as we are using them.” But, he went on; “If we ever stop using 70 doses a day, I would expect that would be the end of it.”
He explained that the Texas Health Presbyterian Network distributes the vaccine out of Fort Worth. They are then disseminated to their providers and he has to send someone to pick up his allotment every day in Arlington. He admitted the procedure is a bit onerous but worth it to get much needed vaccines into Forney and our county. The phone number for Dr. Wilson’s Texas Health Family Care appointment office is: (972)564-0711. A couple of friends have contacted his office to get COVID-19 Vaccinations and related that if you are a patient of the Texas Health Family Care office in Forney, or a patient of the Texas Health Presbyterian Network you are more likely to get in for the vaccine. However, Dr. Wilson said that he isn’t restricting vaccines to only his office’s patients.
Now for the story. Be cause I have a couple of risk factors: Heart issues and Diabetes, I am classified as 1B, the second tier of eligibility in Texas behind Medical and Emergency Personnel. I am also in the 1B group because I work in Disaster Relief.
Ever since the priority of who gets the vaccine was established, I have been waiting my turn in line.
As soon, as I heard that Brookshires Pharmacies in Kaufman County (Forney, Kaufman and Terrell) had COVID-19 Vaccine available I got on their waiting list. My sweet wife Lori also had me put on waiting lists in Dallas, Collin, and Denton County.
I have been patiently waiting for the call with an appointment to get the vaccine. I have to tell you that I have had very little reservation about getting the COVID-19 Vaccination and here is why. In 2008 I was working for the American Red Cross through the Americorps Program. One of my certifications was to teach Pandemic Flu Awareness. I was speaking at a luncheon in Terrell when a prominent Kaufman County Historian told me and unsettling story (I won’t give her name because I haven’t given her a heads-up I would mention her comment, and that wouldn’t be gentlemanly.) She said that if you go through the main gate of the cemetery off of Moore Avenue in Terrell, “You’ll see a large area just inside the gate, where there are no graves, only grass. That was the old ‘Potters Field’ where people who were too poor to pay for burial were interred.”
She went on: “During the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic, that is where all of the people who died of the virus were buried.” With emphasis she added. “That ground has never been broken, nor will it ever be. Because it was decided that they never wanted to risk another outbreak by disturbing the graves.”
That my friends got my attention. I went straight from the lunch meeting to the cemetery and the open space just inside the gate was just as she had described.
So when the COVID-19 Pandimic was declared I have been hoping and praying for a vaccine as many of you have and I think God has answered our prayers and guided the hands and minds of medical researchers.
The way I got the vaccine was completely unexpected. A short time ago, I went to Kroger to pick up one of the two types of insulin I take and the co-pay had gone up $91. Anticipating that the second insulin I take had gone up the same amount I was looking at paying an extra $2000 per year for insulin. I made an appointment with Dr. Wilson to see if there was a cheaper option and he told me that Walmart Insulin was much cheaper, and it was, but that is another story.
Just before my appointment I got a call from his office asking if I would like to get a COVID-19 Vaccination while I was at me appointment. I was pleasantly shocked. I hadn’t heard that his office had vaccines available. So, I hadn’t even gotten on a list. I readily said yes, and that is how I got the COVID-19 Vaccine.
Due to hard work and diligence of our State Representative Keith Bell and our County Judge Hal Richards we anticipate having a lot more of the vaccine available in Kaufman County. Soon Trinity Valley Community College in Terrell will serve as a Kaufman County distribution center for the vaccine.
I have to add that I would get on every waiting list available and get the vaccine as soon as possible. Remember that you don’t really have an appreciable amount of cover age until a couple of weeks after the first dose. The second dose is administered 21 days after the first and you won’t realize full benefits until sometime after that. So, don’t let your guard down! Don’t get COVID-19 just because it feels like we are getting close to safety.
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