LEES SUMMIT, Mo — John Knox Village Care Center will receive its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 180 residents have contracted the virus. Of those, 49 residents have died, despite state inspection reports that show no deficiencies in care.
Belva Erath, 91, moved to John Knox Village with her husband 19 years ago. When Erath's husband died two years ago, she was able to remain social at JKV until the pandemic hit in March.
"I see my friends through the window. I stand on one side and they on the other and we talk," Erath said. "It's not the same as in person."
John Knox Village has been closed to the public since the beginning of the pandemic.
Rodney McBride, vice president of health and community Services at JKV, said the vaccine is the first step in reuniting residents, like Erath, with family and friends.
"We can't wait 'til 2021 gets here," McBride said. "We believe the vaccine happening next week, the first week of January, is a great way to kick off the new year."
Erath said she will take the vaccine.
"I'm so excited about it, and I'm delighted that we finally are seeing and end to this hopefully, " Erath said.
First on Erath's list of things to do once it's safe is visit with her family.
"We're going to meet together. I think they'll come up and we'll go have dinner some place soon," Erath said. "I can't imagine what it's like to go out to dinner. That will be fun."
CVS and Walgreens are distributing the vaccines to nursing homes. CVS said it has 450 nursing homes in the Kansas City area on it's list to get the vaccine out to. CVS hopes to have the vaccines distributed within the next few months.
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