Chief Petty Officer Pete Jennings, a Reserve marine science technician, meets with a site safety officer at a mass vaccination site in Bloomington, Illinois, May 14, 2021. Jennings was part of a team of 12 Coast Guard reservists assisting state and local agencies with vaccination efforts, and he focused specifically on safety messaging. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Andrew Barresi Using safety skills to help Illinois COVID response Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Andrew Barresi, First Coast Guard District Springfield, Illinois, might not be the first place you would expect to find a group of Coast Guard reservists; however, during a pandemic, when Reserve members’ skills are in demand, they answered the call and traveled wherever they were needed. Springfield is home to the Illinois Emergency Operations Center, where a unified team of agencies came together to organize and execute the effort to vaccinate the people of Illinois. Teams from the Illinois National Guard, Illinois Department of Public Health, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, and the Coast Guard worked together to offer the COVID-19 vaccination to all eligible residents. One way the Coast Guard team made an impact was in the field of safety. Chief Warrant Officer Chad Boyd and Chief Petty Officer Peter Jennings were among the crew in Springfield. They integrated into the safety team and quickly helped improve the safety messaging that was sent out to vaccination sites. “We are promoting a culture of safety at vaccination sites across the state,” said Jennings. “We have backgrounds in marine safety, but we are able to translate that experience to an incident like this. Many safety principles are universal to all types of incidents.” 10 RESERVIST � Issue 3 • 2021 In addition to the messaging, Boyd and Jennings created a simplified process for site safety officers to receive important safety messages. The duo created a one-page reference sheet with quick response codes that link to pertinent safety messages. Armed with this reference sheet, site safety officers can use their cellphones to scan the codes and instantly receive updated safety information including weather reports, driving safety tips, recommendations on personal protective equipment, trip hazards, and much more. “There were multiple vaccination sites across the state run by different organizations,” said Boyd. “The goal was to help unify the state safety efforts across those various vaccine site types. We wanted to make sure everyone across the board had the resources they needed.” While the Coast Guard safety team was far from their typical marine environment, their fundamental knowledge of safety, communication, and unity of effort supported the state’s COVID-19 response. The vaccination mission may not have many similarities to a typical Coast Guard mission, but the skills, professionalism, dedication, and expertise that Coast Guard reservists bring to every response ensured success. �
