Behind the Scenes at a Covid-19 Vaccination Center
How Bainbridge Island’s Medical Reserve Corp is making sure not a single dose goes to waste
The early morning drizzle stopped just as Loren Bast parked his car outside the senior community center on Bainbridge Island in Washington state on a Friday in late January. He strode purposefully inside and put on a reflective blue vest over his maroon jacket.
Bast, the executive director of Bainbridge Prepares — a mutual aid organization dedicated to building community resilience — has been… busy, to say the least. Since the end of December, he’s been leading the vaccine rollout in Bainbridge and the surrounding Kitsap County with the island’s volunteer-run Medical Reserve Corps.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Medical Reserve Corps (MRCs) sprouted up all over the country to help communities respond in times of crisis. MRCs comprises volunteers who have a medical background or are trained in emergency preparedness, such as paramedics or EMTs. In Western Washington, MRCs were primarily concerned about natural disasters: earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires. Pandemics weren’t top of mind (though the MRC on Bainbridge certainly considered them).
