Tour Commander, 509.625.7100
Friday, January 15, 2021 at 10:54 a.m.
The Interdisciplinary EMS Task Force charged with vaccinating Spokane County's First Responders finished its mission, with the last vaccination occurring Thursday, Jan. 14, 7 PM. SFD's personnel collaborated with nearly every EMS and Public Health Agency in Spokane County to design, staff, and manage a drive-through clinic that lasted eleven days.
The clinic successfully vaccinated 2,508 Spokane County first responders and high-risk healthcare workers! The Spokane Fire Department now has 52% of its personnel vaccinated and enrolled in the program. Despite national speculation of untoward effects from the vaccine, there were no allergic reactions treated throughout the clinic's 11-days of operation.
The SFD is exceptionally thankful for the partnership with Spokane Regional Health District and our Fire and EMS partners (AMR, Fire Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, Airway Heights, Cheney, LifeFlight, and Deer Park Ambulance). Additionally, several Spokane Emergency Physicians also sacrificed their own time to spend long shifts with our teams and share their knowledge and skills to improve the effort.
Lastly, a personal thank you to SFD's Mike Lopez and Kasey Austin for your leadership and commitment to seeing the assignment through to the very end. You are both very inspiring.
Thank you.
Brian Schaeffer
Fire Chief
