December 25, 2020
FREE
DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
ParkerChronicle.net
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | SPORTS: PAGE 17 | CALENDAR: PAGE 16
VOLUME 19 | ISSUE 6
Panel puts focus on mental health Programs available to help with student engagement in schools BY JESSICA GIBBS JGIBBS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Respiratory therapist Robin Mannino receives a shot of the COVID-19 vaccine Dec. 17, the first dose administered by Parker Adventist Hospital. The hospital began inoculating staff working closely with COVID-19 patients. The vaccine process requires each person to receive two shots of the same vaccine dosage 21 days apart. After the shot, staff are monitored for 15 minutes for any PHOTO BY NICK PUCKETT reactionary symptoms related to the vaccine.
Parker Adventist employees get COVID-19 vaccine Frontline workers at hospital receive first dose Dec. 17 BY NICK PUCKETT NPUCKETT@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Working in the Parker Adventist Hospital intensive care unit, Robin Mannino has witnessed the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. A respiratory therapist of more than 20 years, Mannino stood in a waiting area at the hospital Dec. 17 with a slight twinge in her left arm from having received an injection of the COVID-19 vaccine. She SEE VACCINE, P9
WHO CAN GET THE VACCINE (AND WHEN) Phase One (winter)
1A: Highest-risk health care workers and individuals — People who have direct contact with COVID-19 patients for 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period; long-term care facility staff and residents. 1B: Moderate-risk health care workers and responders — Health care workers with less direct contact with COVID-19 patients; workers in home health/hospice and dental settings.; emergency medical services, firefighters, police, correctional workers, dispatchers, funeral services, other first responders and COVID-19 response personnel.
Phase Two (spring)
Higher-risk individuals and essen-
tial workers: People age 65 or older; people of any age with obesity, diabetes, chronic lung disease, significant heart disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer or are immunocompromised; people who interact directly with the public at work, such as grocery store workers and school staff; people who work in high-density settings like farms and meat-packing plants; workers serving people who live in high-density settings; other health care workers not covered in Phase One; adults who received a placebo during a COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial. Phase Three (summer)
The general public — anyone age 1864 without high-risk conditions.
Douglas County School District parents are stressing the effect of remote education and COVID-19’s turmoil on their children’s mental health. At a Dec. 10 school board meeting, one woman became emotional sharing how her 14-year-old child was hospitalized and now requires medication to manage depression during the crisis. Another woman described watching “our children become sadder and sadder by the day” during remote education and feared depressed children might turn to self-harm amid pandemic pressures and isolation. Both hoped for a return to in-person learning. Later in the meeting, the district announced a phased approach to bringing students back in the second semester. While elementary students are planned to start full in-person learning on Jan. 5, middle and high school students would not return to hybrid learning until late January and February respectively, if all goes well. Local leaders met on Dec. 15 to discuss resources to help students SEE HEALTH, P4