STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK
GRAPH BY PAUL RIES
St. Luke’s Wood River will begin vaccinating teachers and child care workers today, along with the first responders and others who were scheduled to begin getting COVID-19 vaccines today.
And the hospital has scheduled additional clinics on Saturday, Jan. 16; Tuesday, Jan. 19, and Thursday, Jan. 21.
Those eligible to receive vaccines in those clinics are:
First responders, including firefighters and police
Coroner and medical examiners
Idaho Fish and Game and USDA law enforcement officers
Adult and child protective service workers
Child welfare workers
Community food, housing and relief service
Pre K-12 school staff and teachers and daycare workers
Residential school or facility staff providing behavioral health treatment
Correctional and detention facility staff
Dentists and dental hygienists and dental assistants
Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and aides
Idaho National Guard
Only qualifying people within those groups should schedule appointments at this time. Those who schedule will be required to provide proof of their job through pay stubs, I.D. badges or W2 at their appointment.
Those who are St. Luke’s patients can schedule appointments online using myChart at mychart.slhs.org or www.stlukesonline.org. Those who have never used St. Luke’s services may set up myChart accounts by calling 208-381-9000. Those who cannot use myChart for some reason may call St. Luke’s Connect at 208-381-9500 to set up an appointment
St. Luke’s will schedule the same number of appointments as it has in vaccine doses so people are encouraged to check back if they don’t receive an appointment right away.
St. Luke’s relies on health districts for the number of doses it receives.
Idaho has administered 42,607 doses so far, with 28,016 people receiving at least one dose and 7,280 receiving two doses. So far, 336 have been administered in the Wood River Valley. About 75 percent of St. Luke’s employees being vaccinated, along with some residents and staff of local nursing homes.