COVID-19 Vaccine Update
January 18, 2021
Message from the President/CEO
Dear SLI clients, families, staff and stakeholders,
I am writing to give you an update on SLI’s COVID plan. As many of you know, we are coordinating a vaccination clinic with Walgreens with the first vaccine being administered on Jan. 22 and the second on Feb. 12. For clients with guardians, the guardians have already received consent forms. If you want the person for whom you are guardian to receive the vaccine, please complete and return those forms prior to Jan. 22. If you do not wish for the person for whom you are guardian to receive the vaccine, we will need you to sign a waiver form. The vaccine is being offered to every person served and every staff member who chooses to take it.
Our county/hospital is still listed at a level 23 of 24 which is in the uncontrolled range. I am hopeful that as more people become vaccinated, that level will shift and start to take a downturn in a positive direction. I monitor the data from the health department, hospital and KDHE every day and will continue to do so until we are through this.
We have been very fortunate that we have had only 5 clients test positive for COVID-19, all of whom have recovered or are recovering. We have had less than 10 employees test positive. I believe this is due to the strict measures and reporting requirements we implemented early on and have stuck with through this pandemic. Our staff have been working diligently to keep themselves healthy and not pass on the virus to our clients and other staff. We are so grateful to each and every one of them for their efforts and the long hours of work they have and continue to put in day in and day out.
This has been difficult on many of those we serve. Their routines, sense of daily productivity, emotional health and happiness have been put to the test. Our staff are working hard to implement activities at home to address these issues. It has just been difficult on everyone.
However, I do believe there is light at the end of this long tunnel. This will eventually get under control and things will go back to normal. Until then, we continue to have our stay at home procedures in place and our visitor procedures in place. Those have not yet changed but I will happily let you know as soon as they do. Once the vaccination process is completed and the time to take effect, as suggested by CDC, after second dose is met AND our county sees a consistent downturn in the level of positive cases over a period of 3-4 weeks, we will begin to lift these protocols.
I cannot tell you how much your continued support and encouragement has helped over the last 10 months. You have all been amazing and we thank you.
Wishing you all good health and peace,
Lisa Jackson
SLI President/CEO