 JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 11

gram the hospital system uses 
to set up appointments. 
Employees included in the 
first tier of vaccinations includ-
ed emergency room physicians 
and staff, operating room staff, 
and the anesthesia, ENT (ear, 
nose and throat) and critical 
care departments, according to 
Adelman.
The vaccine arrived at the 
Henry Ford West Bloomfield 
loading dock at 10 a.m. that 
day, with employee health techs 
primarily giving out the shots, 
and some nurses stepping in to 
help so they could vaccinate as 
many people as possible. 
“Sitting there waiting for it, it 
was really an emotional, viscer-
al feeling that I had,
” Adelman 
said. 
“When I look at the pictures, 
I look really serious, but that’s 
only because I was just trying 
to hold it together.
”
Adelman described the actu-
al shot as “pretty painless” and 
“much less discomfort relative 
to a flu shot.
” Once he took it, 

he had to go to a recovery area 
to be monitored for 15-20 min-
utes to make sure there were no 
immediate side effects. 
In the first roll-out wave, 
each of HFHS’ campuses 
received 975 doses of the Pfizer 
vaccine. At the West Bloomfield 
hospital, 80 people were vacci-
nated on the first day and more 
than 100 on the second day.
As of Jan. 8, 18,000 HFHS 
team members either received 
or were scheduled to receive 
the vaccine. HFHS had orig-
inally planned to roll out the 
vaccine through a tiered sys-
tem based on the most at-risk 
employees, but they received 
more shipments of the vaccine 
than anticipated, which helped 
speed up their efforts. 
After going through the pro-
cess of receiving the first dose, 
Adelman made an appointment 
for his second dose, which was 
21 days later on Jan. 7. 
Adelman’s message to the 
public is to continue following 
the guidelines of mask wearing 

and social distancing, and to 
get the vaccine when available. 
“The risks of not getting the 
vaccine are way higher than 
the risk of taking the vaccine,
” 
Adelman said. 
“We need to do it for our-
selves, for our children, for our 
parents and for each other.
”

SENIORS SECURED
Barbra Giles, executive direc-
tor of strategic initiatives for 
Jewish Senior Life, played a piv-
otal role in getting the vaccine 
to JSL. 
In October, Giles enrolled 
JSL in the Pharmacy 
Partnership for Long-Term 
Care Program offered via CVS 
Pharmacy, applying for clinic 
dates for residents, staff and 
designated caregivers. 
Giles, along with residents 
of Oak Park’s JSL Coville 
Apartments and Prentis 
Apartments 1, received their 
first dose of the Moderna vac-
cine on Jan. 4. 
JSL is having three vaccine 

clinic dates for each of its six 
buildings: the first date to 
administer the first dose; the 
second date where residents 
can get the second dose and 
those who missed the first date 
can get their first dose; and a 
third date for the residents who 
missed the first date to receive 
their second dose. 
“It was a fantastic experience, 
the staff and residents were 
excited to participate, and it 
was a wonderful sense in the 
air about hope and moving 
forward into a new phase of 
normalcy,
” Giles said of the 
monumental day. 
Giles also said residents rem-
inisced about other vaccines 
they’ve received in their lives.
“We heard a lot about when 
they got the polio vaccine the 
first time and how much this 
reminded them of when they 
were children, of that experi-
ence,
” Giles said. “It was very 
interesting.
”
Four stations were set up at 
the clinic, which began at 11 

continued on page 12

COURTESY OF HFHS

LEFT: Dr. Bruce 

Adelman of Henry 

Ford Health System 

Rolls up his sleeve 

to get the vaccine. 

RIGHT: Kate Zenlea.

COURTESY OF KATE ZENLEA

