JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As of Wednesday, more than 300 long-term care facilities in Florida had received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Specifically, 287 nursing homes and 33 assisted living facilities have received it, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration.
Geneva Mitchell lives at Brooks Rehabilitation in Bartram Crossing, where on Wednesday the first dose was administered. Mitchell said she has health conditions and didn’t have any concerns about getting vaccinated.
“I have diabetes and some other things,” Mitchell said. “Need to be safe to take care of me and my family.”
She said she’s missed her family and has a message for anyone thinking about getting the vaccine.
“I would want people to take it too because we have to take care of ourselves and other people too,” Mitchell said. “I have a great-grandson. A great-great grandson, less than a year old. They have not been coming in to see me. He can’t come in.”
Chris Janson is a nurse at Brooks. He got vaccinated as well.
“To me, health care is a personal decision and for me to get the vaccine, I am a two-time cancer survivor, so I did speak with my oncologist and educated myself and plus the fact that I work in a high-risk industry, I chose to get a vaccine,” Janson said.
As of Wednesday, 98% of assisted living facilities had enrolled in a federal program to get the vaccine. Janson said getting those residents back to normal will make a big difference.
“The limited contact with the patients and their families was really hard,” Janson said. “Brooks did a fantastic job as far as we set up the Zoom calls and a lot of our patients did participate in that.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis expects all 67 Florida counties will have the vaccine by the end of the week. The state does not currently have enough doses for all 4 million senior citizens.