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Assisted living and nursing home facility explains how it has prepared for the vaccine rollout

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LANCASTER, N.Y. (WKBW) — Chris Koenig is the president and CEO of Niagara Lutheran Health Systems. He said the COVD-19 vaccine will help nursing home and assisted living residents get back to a normal life.

"They're here in the facilities. They can't go anywhere. They can't visit their families. Their families can't visit them. It's important we all get vaccinated and we help them get vaccinated so they can return to life as normal and live as best as they can," Koenig said.

Greenfield Health and Rehabilitation Center in Lancaster has about 400 residents and 500 staff members. Koenig said assisted livings and nursing homes will contract with Walgreens or CVS for the vaccine rollout.

"The pharmacies are going to give us a day or two. They're going to say this is when we're going to come, be ready. We're going to need to be very efficient. We need to make sure 900 people are going to get a vaccine inoculated ideally within one day," Koenig said.

They've already started preparing for the vaccine's arrival.

"We will do dry runs. We've done a lot of prep already, as much as we can based on the information we've gotten. We're working on getting the consents from the residents and the patients as well as the staff collecting all the clarical information we need," Koenig said.

Koenig said the vaccine is a beacon of hope after such a difficult year.

"This is the first time we have a tool we can use to stop the spread of this virus. A light at the end of the tunnel is putting it lightly. People's lives have greatly changed. It's the biggest change in our generation. We're all looking forward to going back to normal. What that looks like and how we get there... this is the first to get there," Koenig said.