SALT LAKE CITY – The first Utah veterans living in a long-term care unit received COVID-19 vaccines at the George E. Wahlen Medical Center of the Salt Lake City Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday.
It was a life-changing opportunity for 39-year-old Dana Hare, who has toured in Iraq and is undergoing a substance abuse program due to her post-traumatic stress disorder. He’s been in the hospital for more than two months.
“I didn’t think I would be the first person,” Hare told KSL. “I want to start meeting people I know and love. I want to take off these masks and start meeting again.”
Hare said the isolation as a result of COVID-19 was difficult to manage.
“It was difficult, it’s already a symptom of our disease. We need interaction with our families – that’s one of the things that keeps us healthy,” Hare said.
This is the same feeling for veteran Christian Smith, 41, who is also going through a substance abuse program to get his life back in order. He was the second person in the hospital to be vaccinated.
Here is the first Utah veteran (who is not a nurse) to receive #Vaccine covid@ KSL5TVpic.twitter.com/TTYnybtSmR
– Dan Rascon (@TVDanRascon) December 28, 2020
“I feel a little guilty. I’m 41. I think there are older people who need him,” Smith told KSL. He said that isolation was also very difficult for him as he tried to recover from PTSD.
“It really affected my recovery and I immediately started fighting. It really hurt my recovery,” he said.
Medical center administrators said Monday is a huge day to open the doors back for these veterans.
“It’s better than Christmas,” said Ashley Phillips, the primary care nurse at the medical center. “I want to be able to give all our veterans that vaccine as soon as possible so that they can be recovered in that society. We do not want them to be socially isolated at all ”.
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And Rascon