St. Ignatius, Hickory, answers call as COVID vaccination clinic

FOREST HILL – What would have otherwise been an empty parking lot because of the coronavirus pandemic seemed like a crowded Easter Sunday Mass at St. Ignatius Church in Hickory April 7. 

The Harford County Health Department partnered with the Harford County parish for a combined indoor and drive-thru vaccination clinic for area residents. It was the first of many clinics to be scheduled on Wednesdays at St. Ignatius through the summer. Vaccination registration is being coordinated through the Harford County health department and not the parish office.

Vaccine registrants arrived as much as 45 minutes early to enter the parish hall, where a number of check-in tables were available. People were then guided to a line where they were directed to some 10 vaccination stations.

Dottie Ruff, a Harford County Health Department health educator and licensed practical nurse, could have been mistaken for a member of an airport ground crew with her large orange flag as she guided clinic participants. It was the 26th vaccination clinic in which the parishioner of Church of the Nativity in Timonium has assisted. 

A steady flow of drivers used the drive-thru vaccination option, lining up in two rows side-by-side waiting to approach white tents separated by orange cones in the parking lot behind the parish hall. 

The entire process took minutes. Several cars transported multiple people, most of whom were seniors being driven by family members or friends.

Demand was so high when the clinic first opened, reports stated cars were backed up to the intersection of East Jarrettsville Road and Conowingo Road where the parish is located.

The line into the parish center extended from the community room, weaved slightly in the hallway and extended down the steps to the parking lot. Eventually the morning rush calmed to an easy flow around noon.

Lynda Boegner, acting director of clinical services for the Harford County Health Department, a nurse practitioner and a St. Ignatius parishioner for more than 20 years, said officials expected to administer 780 Moderna vaccinations, many of which were second doses.

“We had to look quickly (for a new clinic location),” Boegner said, as she explained that the county could no longer use Patterson Mill Middle-High School in Bel Air once the school system announced it was returning to in-person learning. 

“I called Monsignor Jim Barker because I knew he had this big beautiful space and campus to try a drive-thru,” Boegner said. “I turned to the church, that’s my faith. … God put answers in my head.”

She praised the St. Ignatius pastor for being gracious and saying yes without hesitation.

The Harford County Health Department has been charged with administering as many vaccinations as possible with the only limitation being the number of doses available. 

“We’re thrilled,” said Monsignor Barker, as he talked about partnering with Harford County. ”We’re trying to get the parish healthy and the community healthy. This is putting our facilities to good use.”

He added that some of those being vaccinated at St. Ignatius have never stepped foot on Catholic grounds. “It’s good evangelization,” he said.

During Lent last year, as the pandemic was just taking root, St. Ignatius held drive-thru confessions.

“We’re almost there,” Monsignor Barker said, as he talked about getting back to in-person religious education in the fall and gradually seeing Mass attendance increase.

“As a health department, we want to ensure vaccine equity across our population and we’ll be setting up in the northern part of the (Harford) county, Aberdeen and Edgewood as well,” Boegner said.

She added her 55-member vaccination team, which consists of nurses, support staff, sheriffs for traffic control and volunteers were “ready to go.” 

Thomas Crimmins, president of the St. Ignatius parish council, who said he missed seeing his grandchildren, was on hand for his second dose. 

“I’m glad we’re able to serve the public,” he said. “They (Harford County) asked and we are able to do it.”

Alyssa Hamod, a Fallston resident and St. Ignatius parishioner, attended the vaccination clinic with her 3-year-old son, William.

“I was impressed to see the line out the door,” Hamod said. “It’s a big deal for a church like St. Ignatius to support the vaccine and the community.”

Daniel Cajigas, business manager for St. Frances de Sales in Abingdon and a retired member of the U.S. Public Health Service with 25 years experience in the field, told the Review his parish will host a public vaccination registration day, April 11, from 11:30 am to 3 p.m., also in conjunction with the Harford County Health Department.

According to Cajigas, who will be ordained to the permanent diaconate in May at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, St. Frances de Sales is the only parish in Harford County with an established Hispanic community. 

Elsewhere in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Bishop Bruce Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus-Sagrado Corazón de Jesús in Highlandtown, has been working closely with Johns Hopkins Medicine on hosting COVID testing and vaccination clinics since early on in the pandemic.

St. Joseph’s Passionist Monastery in Irvington will host a vaccination clinic in partnership with St. Agnes Hospital April 30. St. Vincent de Paul Church in Baltimore is working on a partnership with Johns Hopkins Medicine, and St. Bernardine Church and St. Peter Claver Church in West Baltimore are partnering with the University of Maryland Medical System.

“This is where we are supposed to be, to protect people as quickly as we can,” Lynda Boegner said at St. Ignatius. “This is truly hope for many many people.”

Email Kevin Parks at kparks@CatholicReview.org

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