Seattle resident Patrick McCain remembers exactly how it felt when he got his first COVID-19 vaccine.
He had spent the past year worrying about the virus and how it might impact his wife, who has multiple sclerosis, if either of them ever got it.
“It was always in the back of my mind and I knew I’d never forgive myself if I got it and gave it to her,” he said.
So on his drive home from getting his first Pfizer shot, he felt like a weight had lifted.
“You don’t even know you’re carrying this on you, but it felt like someone took 200 pounds off my shoulders,” he said. “And getting my second shot. That was just pure joy.”
It’s a feeling he wants others to experience, particularly communities of color where distrust of the government and historical medical mistreatment have left some hesitant to get the vaccine.
It’s also a big part of why he and members of his fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi, a global and historically African American fraternity, began volunteering at the Community Vaccination Site at Lumen Field. The vaccination site is a public-private partnership launched by the City of Seattle, Swedish and First and Goal Inc., and is the largest civilian-led mass vaccination site in the country—one that, at capacity, is capable of administering 22,000 per day.
The site was stood up and is operated by the Department of Finance and Administrative Services and brings together hundreds of community volunteers and Swedish and City staff, and has already provided 45,000 doses since opening on March 13.
Patrick McCain, right, poses fellow Kappa Alpha Psi members
To center the site in equity, FAS has worked to recruit a volunteer base that’s reflective of the communities served at the site. To date, FAS has partnered with more than 25 community-based organizations, many of them BIPOC, to recruit more than 4,200 volunteers who have served in more than 3,500 shifts combined.
“Operating one of the largest mass vaccination sites in the country is a once-in-a-generation effort and our City could not do it without the hundreds and thousands of volunteers like Patrick and his organization, who have given so generously of their time,” said Calvin W. Goings, Finance and Administrative Services Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Community Vaccination Site at Lumen Field. “When their City needed them most, our volunteers answered the call and I’m so proud to serve side-by-side with them in this critical work.”
The members of Kappa Alpha Psi have volunteered at the site in roles such as wayfinding, patient check-in and vaccination data entry.
“My plan is to do every volunteer role I can,” said Patrick, who serves as the polemarch of Kappa Alpha Psi. “I liked doing patient check-in. It’s the most exciting for me because you talk to people coming in and they’re excited to get their shot. Some are a little apprehensive and you just get to talk to them and cheer them on.”
Patrick said the murder of George Floyd and demonstrations to protest racial injustice last summer inspired he and his fraternity to get more involved in the community. Since then, they’ve held community blood drives, they collected and delivered socks, undergarments and other supplies to unsheltered community members and now are giving back through volunteer work at the vaccination site.
For Patrick, the work is as much personal as it is helping his community. He nearly lost his 21-year-old niece who suffers from asthma and was hospitalized and on a ventilator for two weeks because of COVID.
“Now she’s back in college and doing well, but it was a close call. I couldn’t go in the hospital, but I met people waiting on loved ones outside and it put something on me that I need to do more for this whole virus thing. I need to be more involved and help my community,” he said.
The thing Patrick is most looking forward to once the pandemic is over is flying to South Carolina to see his family and hug his mom. And, just like he does at Lumen, he’ll be encouraging his family members and communities of color who are reluctant or nervous about the vaccine.
“My hope is they see us out here as frontline volunteers and it may give someone enough trust to go and take the shot. It might help someone say, ‘ok, maybe I need to look at this again,’” he said. “And I just encourage people to look at the evidence, and then not just think about how it might impact you but how it could help the country.”