Vernon's Vaccination Crew Makes House Calls At Mobile Home Park

VERNON, CT — The Vernon coronavirus vaccination unit made a stop at a local mobile home park for the elderly Tuesday and the efforts to get people shots included three old-fashioned house calls.

In all, 50 people were vaccinated at the Vernon Village mobile home park off Kelly Road.

"This was an important stop, because it's one of our most vulnerable populations," said Lt. William Meier of the Vernon Police Department, the site commander for each clinic.

Vernon has a mobile vaccination trailer and has teamed up with Ellington-based Priority Urgent Care to administer shots at senior centers, houses of worship and veterans halls. Every school system staffer in Vernon was vaccinated in a clinic last week.

It is, Meier has said, all about doing what is necessary to "get shots in arms."

Most of the vaccines Tuesday were administered in an outdoor clinic inside the mobile home park. Three residents, however, needed special visits because they are considered shut-ins, Meier said.

So the Vernon ambulance crew of Heather Graveline and Jean Gauthier made a visit to Vernon Village and Dr. Daksh Rampal, the co-founder and medical director of Urgent Care, hopped on board. A few clicks up the road and he was at the first stop.

After about 15 minutes, Rampal emerged from the home and said all went well. That routine — along with the mandatory 15-minute post-shot waiting period — was repeated two more times.

Vernon Village is located at 325 Kelly Road in Vernon. It is a community restricted to people 55 and older and has a concentration of home-bound residents.

The clinic ran from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Residents received the Johnson & Johnson vaccination.

Town leaders had been working with park management to set up the clinic.