SARASOTA (WSNN) – COVID-19 vaccines are making their way to Suncoast neighborhoods.
“It was a blessing,” Winds of St. Armands North Park resident Tatyana Kukrecht-Bakota said.
Tuesday morning, about 120 residents of the Winds of St. Armands mobile park got their second-dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 shot.
“We have a lot of folks here that are shut-ins, we have a lot of people who don’t know how to use a computer, had no idea how to register for a vaccination and really really wanted a vaccination,” Vaccine clinic organizer Nancy Bellisle said.
So, Bellisle made it her mission to create a vaccine clinic for these homebound residents.
“I don’t drive anymore, so that’s a big problem; number one,” Kukrecht-Bakota said. “Number two, I have macular degeneration, so I cannot use a computer, so I couldn’t even register.”
After weeks of planning and making phone calls, Bellisle and her friends successfully hosted one of the first neighborhood vaccine clinics in Sarasota at the end of March.
“You did what you needed to do until it was done,” volunteer Sandi Carlson said.
“We called every single person in the park, looking to see who needed the vaccination and getting with the health department and calling them every three days,” Bellisle said.
State workers administer the vaccines.
“It just brings me so much joy that these people can get the vaccinations, they’re so grateful and so happy to get them,” Bellisle said. “It just warms my heart.”
“When they told us they were doing it here, I said ’Thank you, Dear Lord,'” Kukrecht-Bakota said.
“The more people who know that they can get this into their community, the better off that they will be,” Marcia Eckardt said.
If more residents in this neighborhood want to get the vaccine, the clinic will come back for them.