Miners provide vaccines at the ballpark

PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners partnered with Capstone Clinic to provide a vaccination station at the Miners regular season home finale at Hermon Brothers Field against the Anchorage Glacier Pilots. Technicians from Capstone brought 90 doses of Pfizer vaccination and the Miners sponsored a free meal for anyone who chose to get vaccinated.

“It’s huge for us because as everybody knows cases are growing, so the more people that we can get vaccinated and the more we can do to give back to the community to give them that opportunity, the better our community is going to be if we get a big spike. We just want our community to be safe,” said Denise Christopher, the team’s marketing and community relations director.

Christopher also works at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center and became eager to schedule vaccinations at the ballpark when the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services began their “sleeves up for summer” campaign.

There were 338 new cases of COVID-19 announced on July 27. There are 94 people currently hospitalized in Alaska and 1,723 Alaskans have been hospitalized over the course of the coronavirus pandemic. There have been 71,757 cases statewide among residents and 379 deaths. Over 52 percent of Alaskans have been vaccinated.

“Tonight we came specifically for this because my children haven’t been vaccinated yet and they opened it up,” said John Alcantra. “We knew this was here tonight and saw it advertised and just wanted to get them vaccinated.”

John’s children, 16-year-old Brodie and 13-year-old Teshya Alcantra, both received their first doses of Pfizer vaccine from Capstone technicians at the ballpark on Tuesday. After the Capstone nurse sterilized Brodie’s arm and injected the Pfizer vaccine, Brodie responded in amazement.

“That’s it?” said Brodie Alcantra. “It was just really fast and easy. It didn’t hurt and I’m normally scared of needles but I didn’t notice. It just went boop and then done.”

In the Mat-Su, 27 residents have been hospitalized this calendar year and 33 were hospitalized in 2020. There have been 12,034 total cases and the current alert level is high. Over the last 14 days, 191 cases of COVID-19 have been reported among Mat-Su residents with an additional 29 cases at the last reporting on July 27. There are currently three patients hospitalized at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center and another two patients suspected positive. Just four Intensive Care Unit beds remain at MSRMC. The high mark for hospitalizations in the Mat-Su was on April 2 with 17 Mat-Su residents hospitalized. A total of 31,558 Mat-Su residents accounting for 36.5 percent of the population have received both doses of vaccine.

The Alcantra’s were excited to receive their vaccinations at the ballpark on Tuesday. Brodie plans to play football in the fall and hopes that being fully vaccinated will help keep him on the field this year. Aside from the safety of becoming vaccinated, Brodie was particularly motivated by a Miner burger.

“I just wasn’t scared of it,” said Brodie Alcantra. “And the food. That was about it, that’s all it took.”