Piedmont hospital EMS, physicians see ‘ray of hope’ with first COVID-19 vaccine doses
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Arash Poursina was among the first to research the coronavirus months before it hit in full force in March, “hoping and praying” the pandemic wouldn’t be as devastating as it’s become.
A year later, he was the first again. Poursina, a self-identified “front line of the front line workers” in the pandemic, was among the first health care workers in Rock Hill to receive Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine Thursday at Piedmont Medical Center.
But before he got his vaccine, Poursina reflected on the year.
“The past one year has been a very sobering experience,” he said. “I never thought I would face something like this. The number of people I’ve seen suffer, die and who will have long-lasting damage that they have to face for the rest of their lives...” he looked down and got quiet.
“Yeah,” he continued. “This vaccine is going to be a ray of hope.”
Beside him, emergency department nurse Jessica Donahue, whose face was hidden behind a surgical mask and shield, prepared the vaccine. Poursina took off his white coat, removed his stethoscope from around his neck and pulled up his left sleeve.
Donahue wiped alcohol over his left arm and inserted the needle. Poursina was vaccinated.
“Are you done?” he looked at Donahue.
“Yes!” she said, smiling.
“Oh good!” he replied. “That was the best vaccine I’ve ever had.”
“I’m so happy to hear that!”
Piedmont received 975 doses Wednesday of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine. A tray holds a minimum of 975 doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A hospital official was not able to tell The Herald how many staff members will get the vaccine.
“We have gone through a lot of pain, a lot of loss and needless sufferings,” Poursina said. “I, personally, have seen it all. It’s going take a long time to recover from this, but this vaccine, to me, it’s a huge step in the right direction.”
‘Worse than I ever thought’
During early reports of the virus in China, Poursina said scientists there were still working to understand if the novel coronavirus could transmit from human to human. But with his 20-plus years of experience in infectious disease, Poursina said he feared the world would soon learn that the virus could.
“Knowing this virus, or at least its kind, I feared a massive pandemic,” he told reporters Thursday. “My fear and my warning for most people at the time was that if this virus actually acquires human-to-human transmission capabilities — what if you’re wrong in thinking that it doesn’t transmit? You’re going to be dealing with a massive problem. I was hoping and praying that I was wrong. I was not.”
But he was more wrong than he thought.
“It was a lot worse than I ever thought it would be,” Poursina said. “But we quickly learned. We quickly adapted and we ramped up our efforts. This was the steepest learning curve I’ve ever had in my life. If I knew what I know today, seven, eight months ago, six months ago, a lot more people would be alive.”
Thursday, York County reported 82 confirmed coronavirus cases, marking the first day since Thanksgiving the county has reported fewer than 100 cases, according to the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control. However, five deaths were reported in the county.
Poursina said he understands the hesitation from some in getting the vaccine, but he insisted the vaccine has gone through all the proper steps past vaccines have and encouraged others to get it as widespread immunity will be the only path to normalcy.
“There’s a lot of unknown and it’s a natural human response to an unknown,” he said. “But what is really concerning is when one is not afraid of the real death and suffering and the calamity that is facing you, looking you in the eye in the form of COVID-19, but you’re afraid of the vaccine that may or may not have any side effects?”
‘We got that wake up call’
Just before Poursina got his vaccine, Director of Piedmont’s Emergency Medical Services, Eric Morrison, got his. Like Poursina, Morrison was optimistic to be included in the “historic moment.”
Morrison, wearing his EMS uniform, watched as Donahue inserted the needle. He didn’t flinch.
“You’re done, sir,” Donahue told Morrison.
“Great!” he said, smiling behind his surgical mask.
In South Carolina, EMS workers are included in the first phase of vaccine distributions.
“We’ve been out caring for patients since early March,” he told reporters. “We’ve had members of our own team become sick, so it was really important to us to have this access to this vaccine.”
In April, Piedmont paramedic Pearl Lemieux, 63, spent nearly a month in the hospital — including 14 days on a ventilator — after contracting the virus.
“For all intents and purposes, (she) nearly died,” Morrison said. “That had a really big impact on our team. We were all still learning about this virus, still trying to figure out what was right, how do you take care of people and how to protect yourself from it. Really early on, we got that wake up call of, ‘Hey, it can happen to us.’”
Morrison emphasized that the first distributions of the vaccine do not signify the end of the pandemic. He was adamant that his team will continue to wear masks and follow coronavirus precautions in public, and he encouraged the state’s residents to do so, as well.
“Even those that get vaccinated today or tomorrow, we’re still going be wearing PPE on every call,” Morrison said. “We’re still going to be wearing masks off duty when going into public places. We still want to make sure that we protect ourselves.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 1:39 PM.
