HENDRICKS COUNTY — A family of nurses are working together in hopes of vaccinating their community. Their goal is to make sure people in under served communities have access to the vaccine.
Angela Thompson, a nurse practitioner in Hendricks County, is so dedicating to vaccinating the community that she enlisted her daughter, her sister, and mother -- who are all nurses -- to help promote vaccine awareness.
They're all volunteering at vaccination clinics to make sure everyone has equitable access to the vaccine.
“It’s great to have that kind of camaraderie between my family,” Thompson said. “We all have very much felt as if it was our duty to work together to try and help squash this pandemic. Ever since I was little, my parents have instilled in me the importance of volunteering and giving back. And I think this just demonstrates that.”
Thompson said the biggest challenge they combat is vaccine hesitancy.
“There’s a lot of hesitation. I think some of it is still just misconceptions and admits about what the vaccine will do,” Thompson added. “Just fear associated with how quickly the vaccine was approved and is there some kind of concerned with getting the vaccine especially with the issue that occurred with the Johnson and Johnson and some of the rare side effects that have come to light.”
What she tries to get across to people, Thompson explained, “It’s not just important for the individual to become vaccinated to protect them self but it is to protect society as a whole. And to really prevent additional spread. Because it’s that additional spread that creates these variance that may in fact not be able to be stopped from the vaccination.”
As nurses, and healthcare workers in general, have been our fighters throughout this pandemic, this family of nurses vows to keep fighting until the virus is over.
