Kaukauna nursing home rolled up their sleeves for COVID-19 vaccine roll-out

KAUKAUNA, Wis. (WFRV) Wisconsin DHS reports more people over the age of 60 have died from the coronavirus than any other age group in our state, and one local nursing home is taking a major step to reverse this morbid trend.

Nearly 300 staff and residents at St. Paul’s nursing home in Kaukauna rolled up their sleeves to help end this pandemic by getting the Moderna vaccine.

Amanda Metzner is the Assistant Director of Nursing at St. Paul’s Elder care but Monday she received the Moderna vaccine. “I do have stage 4 breast cancer. I made the decision to get the vaccination to decrease the chances of me actually losing my life from something like this COVID-19.”

Sondra Norder, President and CEO of St. Paul’s Elder Service says, “The vaccine is really our best tool for getting this pandemic under control and we have been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19.”

170 residents and staff at St. Paul’s nursing home have contracted the coronavirus and 12 residents passed since this pandemic started.

Norder says, “Obviously I wish that we had had a tool like this vaccine earlier. So that we could have helped prevent those losses. With a 95 percent effective rate in clinical trials that included the elderly we’re hopeful that this is the answer to our prayers.”

Amanda’s stage 4 breast cancer treatment has weakened her immune system so she believes that getting this vaccine is doing her part to help the residents and end this health crisis.

Metzner says, “I’m hoping that my story influences other people to receive it get it, and not be scared to get it. Getting the vaccination outweighs tremendously compared to the actual virus.”

The fight against the virus is not over but staff and residents say they can start to see the light at the end of these dark times.

Danny Preissner is a physical therapist at St. Paul’s and says, “I was just ready to kind of just take the leap and go for it. Try to get back to normal as fast as we can.”

Norder says, “This does certainly feel like the beginning of the end for us but we have a long ways to go.”

St. Paul’s received the Moderna vaccine which requires 4 weeks between doses and then after the second dose another 2 weeks to build up COVID-19 antibodies.