TOLEDO, Ohio — Laurie Steyer is a retired registered nurse who came back to work to help administer the COVID-19 vaccine; in fact, she gave out the very first COVID-19 shot in northwest Ohio.
"I ran into an old friend who said, 'Hey we're going to start doing injections!' I said, 'Get my name on that list.' Like I said, another tearful moment, to be able to give Dr. Tita his first shot and start the process," Steyer said.
Steyer isn't the only nurse feeling a sense of relief while working the vaccine clinics. Julie Goins-Whitmore said giving out shots is not only a privilege but that it is also kind of fun for her.
"My family said it was like the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru, it was, like, perfect," said Goins-Witmore.
Just like Chick-Fil-A, everyone is happy and excited to be there, which isn't always the mood at a hospital.
Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center was one of the first local sites to start testing for COVID-19 and now, many of those testing sites have converted into COVID-19 vaccination sites, signaling an end in sight to this pandemic.
"As I reflect on this last year, we've come full circle. This makes up for a lot of those scary days where we were very new into this process," Goins-Whitmore.
Despite many people still having doubts and being nervous about getting the vaccine, both nurses said they couldn't be more confident giving it out.