INDIANAPOLIS — Before racing to vaccinate 100,000 people, some Hoosier healthcare heroes were treated to a different kind of race.
"There are so many people working many many hours just trying to help Americans live their lives and get back to normal as soon as possible. And we're really really thankful for them. So, if we can take them for a ride here at the racetrack, which is our home, which is our love, you know, that's fantastic," Conor Daly, an IndyCar driver, said.
"This is hallowed ground, to have the honor to drive here and then to take passengers, like some of our frontline workers, and IU has just been tremendous," Daly continued.
IndyCar drivers Daly and Sarah Fisher took health care workers around the track to thank them for their service and dedication during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other staffers will be among the first IU Health employees to volunteer at the mass vaccination clinic that starts at IMS on Friday.
"Today has just been an extremely uplifting experience, and nice to just feel that light at the end of the tunnel. We're kind of getting back to that new normal, back to normal life again and just feeling the air to breathe and what it's like to have a piece of just excitement again in our lives, and it's just been a very fun piece," Cat Root, an IU Health critical care nurse, said.
More than 1,000 IU Health employees have signed up to work at the IMS clinic. Many of those staff members have worked in the health systems COVID-19 wards over the past year.
