Governor Larry Hogan thanked the first five University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) frontline healthcare workers to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The first recipients include a shock trauma physician, an emergency medicine physician, a nurse, a respiratory therapist, and an environmental services worker.
“The historic undertaking to vaccinate Marylanders against COVID-19 is now underway,” said Governor Hogan. “I had the opportunity to personally thank these frontline healthcare workers for agreeing to be the first recipients of the vaccine, and hearing some of their experiences throughout the pandemic. This is an exciting day for the State of Maryland, and hopefully one we will look back on as the beginning of the end of this pandemic.”
Maryland’s COVID-19 vaccination plan begins with Phase 1A, which will focus on frontline healthcare workers, residents and staff of long-term care facilities, and first responders.
“For many months, we have been looking forward to the day when vaccines would be available to protect our healthcare workers and very soon for the community at large,” said Mohan Suntha, MD, MBA, President and CEO of UMMS. “As we begin vaccinations, and finally begin the process of ending this pandemic, I’m thankful to our UMMS and UM School of Medicine colleagues who have been working tirelessly to care for our community and lead in the development of innovative treatments and vaccines.”
The first UMMS employee to receive the vaccine was Shawn Hendricks, MSN, RN, Nursing Director of Medicine, Cardiac Services and the TeleSitter Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s flagship academic medical center in downtown Baltimore. Hendricks oversees multiple units that care for COVID patients, including the new Modular Care Unit. Hendricks was a student nurse at UMMC and has worked at the hospital for more than two decades. A Baltimore City native who now lives in Baltimore County, Hendricks, 50, was proud to be the first person vaccinated at UMMS, and encourages others to do the same.
Additional frontline healthcare workers who received the COVID-19 vaccine at UMMS today include:
Michael Winters, MD, MBA, FACEP, FAAEM
A Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Vice Chair for Clinical and Administrative Affairs for UMSOM’s Department of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Winters works as a physician in UMMC’s Adult Emergency Department. Dr. Winters also serves as the co-Lead for the Emergency Department Operations Branch of the System’s COVID Incident Command and has provided care for COVID patients during his clinical shifts.
Sharon Henry, MD
Dr. Henry is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and is Director of the Division of Wound Healing and Metabolism at UMMC’s R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. A Shock Trauma physician for 23 years, Dr. Henry has also cared for COVID patients.
Daisy Solares, RRT
In her role as a respiratory therapist at the UMMC Downtown Campus, Daisy Solares, RRT, has has taken care of patients with injuries from relatively minor to some of the most severe, and has been trained to provide care in nine of the Intensive Care Units across the hospital, spanning from medical to trauma. A Baltimore City resident, Solares has been a respiratory therapist at UMMC since July 2014 and has provided care for COVID patients.
William Thomas
Baltimore City resident William “Bill” Thomas is a 25-year employee working in Environmental Services at the UMMC Midtown Campus.
Read the full release from the University of Maryland Medical System.
