Wisconsin’s Volunteer Vaccinators: It’s ‘A Joyful Occasion’ To Help

On a typical workday, Leah Haag spends her time as a nurse at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delavan.

But when the school went virtual because of COVID-19, there wasn’t much work for her to do there.

Haag has switched gears and began vaccinating people through the National Guard mobile vaccination team, or MVT, after vaccines began being approved for emergency use.

“Being able to get out and be on the front lines helping vaccinate people has been really fantastic,” she said. “You just see it in the people’s eyes when they come that they’re so happy and thankful that you’re there.”

According to the state Department of Health Services, 1,557 heath professionals have signed up to volunteer as vaccine administrators through the Wisconsin Emergency Assistance Volunteer Registry (WEAVR). These volunteers include retired and active health care employees.

“It takes more than just an individual to make things happen,” said Ruhamah Bauman, a program officer for AmeriCorps Serve Wisconsin and the lead volunteer coordinator for the state Department of Health Services mobile vaccination team. “You have to come together as organizations, as communities to figure out how to best meet the needs that arise.”

WEAVR tracks potential volunteer health professionals, but numerous other organizations come together to mobilize those who want to help. For example, Wisconsin AmeriCorps rerouted its volunteers to help with immediate needs relating to the pandemic, including assisting students with virtual school, packing and distributing meals, answering calls to COVID-19 hotlines and participating in contact tracing.

Bauman said AmeriCorps members alone have volunteered more than 500,000 hours of service specifically related to COVID-19 activities in Wisconsin.

“It’s been … just crazy,” she said. “I feel so grateful that I live in a state like Wisconsin.”

The United Way of Wisconsin and Serve Wisconsin partnered to launch a COVID-19-specific volunteer page through Volunteer Wisconsin. Through that website, volunteers responded to more than 1,200 volunteer projects related to COVID-19, Bauman said, plus 2,000 other projects to help out communities with pandemic-related needs.

Partnerships between mobile vaccination teams and local agencies helped to fill more than 300 vaccinator requests throughout the state since January, Bauman said. Requests for assistance made by local health departments were fulfilled by volunteers found through WEAVR, the state’s registry of nurses and the University of Wisconsin System.

Each mobile group comprises five National Guard members who help with screening, observing, data entry and support, and one volunteer vaccinator.

“Each mission correlates with a local clinic and the MVTs provide support,” Bauman said. “The missions have a varying number of vaccinators requested and sometimes multiple days.”

Wendy Read is a nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison who signed up to volunteer through the WEAVR registry in January. She helps to vaccinate people at clinics in southern Wisconsin.

“I loved every minute of vaccinating people,” Read said. “It’s such a joyful occasion for people. They’re just happy.”

[[{“fid”:”1479351″,”view_mode”:”full_width”,”fields”:{“alt”:”A nurse stands on a porch in scrubs and a face mask. “,”title”:”Wendy Read”,”class”:”media-element file-full”,”data-delta”:”1″,”format”:”full_width”,”alignment”:””,”field_image_caption[und][0][value]”:”%3Cp%3EWendy%20Read%2C%20nurse%20at%20St.%20Mary’s%20Hospital%20in%20Madison%2C%20at%20her%20home%20Friday%2C%20April%209%2C%202021.%20%3Cem%3EAngela%20Major%2FWPR%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A”,”field_image_caption[und][0][format]”:”full_html”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”A nurse stands on a porch in scrubs and a face mask. “,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:”Wendy Read”},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“1”:{“alt”:”A nurse stands on a porch in scrubs and a face mask. “,”title”:”Wendy Read”,”class”:”media-element file-full”,”data-delta”:”1″,”format”:”full_width”,”alignment”:””,”field_image_caption[und][0][value]”:”%3Cp%3EWendy%20Read%2C%20nurse%20at%20St.%20Mary’s%20Hospital%20in%20Madison%2C%20at%20her%20home%20Friday%2C%20April%209%2C%202021.%20%3Cem%3EAngela%20Major%2FWPR%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A”,”field_image_caption[und][0][format]”:”full_html”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”A nurse stands on a porch in scrubs and a face mask. “,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:”Wendy Read”}},”link_text”:false,”attributes”:{“alt”:”A nurse stands on a porch in scrubs and a face mask. “,”title”:”Wendy Read”,”class”:”media-element file-full-width”,”data-delta”:”1″}}]]Read, who also works with Sharing Resources Worldwide, an organization that donates medical supplies and provides free surgeries around the world, said some vaccine recipients are worried about how they’ll feel after getting the vaccine, and she makes sure to tell them to drink lots of water. Mostly, she said, they’re just grateful.

“They’re like, ‘Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for giving me this vaccine,’” she said. “I think people are ready to get this going and get it behind them.”

How To Help

Bauman said calls have been pouring in since the start of pandemic from volunteer hopefuls looking for ways to help.

Since April of last year, DHS reported that 8,082 health and non-health professionals have been accepted into WEAVR.

Volunteers are needed all over the state, but Bauman said needs are greatest in larger metropolitan areas where there are more people to serve.

Anyone interested in volunteering can visit WEAVR. Licensed health care professionals can sign up to provide vaccinations, and there’s also room to sign up for supportive roles.

Volunteer Wisconsin is a good place to start for people looking to help in ways other than administering vaccinations. Organizations post their needs on this website, and there’s a specific section for COVID-19 response activities.

Haag said there are many roles that volunteers can help to fill that don’t necessarily require medical training.

“We need those extra people opening doors, telling people which direction to go and which table they need to see first, second and then bring them to the vaccinators,” she said. “So really, anybody could offer their assistance.”

A total of 3,572,358 doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in Wisconsin as of Tuesday, with 70 percent of Wisconsinites age 65 and up fully vaccinated. As of Monday, 1,441,345 people in Wisconsin, or 24.8 percent of the population, have been fully vaccinated. Anyone in Wisconsin age 16 and up is eligible for a coronavirus vaccine.