Slideshow Vaccine clinics offer shots to 2nd and 3rd shift employees

To support employees such as custodian Benito Ruiz (center), Cultural Linguistic Services provided interpretation at vaccine clinics for second and third shift employees. Ruiz speaks with CLS interpreter Anabel Rodríguez (left) and UHS vaccinator Ben Steinhoff (right), before receiving his shot. Photo by: Bryce Richter

School of Nursing faculty supervisor Madelyne Greene (right) and nursing student Ariahna Grossenbacher (left) talk to custodian Selle Fall (center) about COVID-19 vaccination before Selle receives her shot. Photo by: Bryce Richter

Linda Johnson (right), a vaccinator with UHS, gives Zong Yang (left), custodian at Facilities Planning and Management, her COVID-19 shot. Photo by: Bryce Richter

Custodian René Cuautle Tlahuel (right) and Carmen Romero González (left), director of Cultural Linguistic Services, speak to one another in Spanish after Cuaulte Tlahuel received his COVID-19 shot. Photo by: Bryce Richter

Santa Gurung (left), custodian at the Waisman Center, works with CLS Nepali interpreter Parwat Regmi to sign consent forms before Gurung receives his COVID-19 shot. Photo by: Bryce Richter

Kim Bertagnoli, vaccinator at UHS, gives Stuart Johnson (right), custodian, his COVID-19 vaccine. Photo by: Bryce Richter

After getting their vaccine, employees were welcomed to wear their UHS COVID-19 vaccine stickers and buttons proudly. Photo by: Bryce Richter

Light from the setting sun filtered through the windows at Carson Gulley Center on April 1, 2021 as UW–Madison employees who work second shift arrived to receive COVID-19 vaccines as part of University Health Service’s efforts to provide shots to as many members of the campus community as possible.

Interpreters from Cultural Linguistic Services — including Anabel Rodríguez, Jzong Thao, Yangbum Gyal, Shuwen Li, Parwat Regmi and CLS Director Carmen Romero González — spent their evening helping ensure employees received information and instructions in the language they felt most comfortable with, whether English, Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, Nepali or Tibetan.

Vaccinators from UHS also transitioned from the clinic held during the day at the Nicholas Recreation Center to the evening clinic, providing an option for employees to get vaccinated during their working hours. The next day, UHS and CLS also hosted an early morning clinic for third shift employees.

Modeled after successful flu vaccine clinics UHS hosts each year, the clinics were designed to reduce the barriers some employees may confront while trying to seek vaccination. COVID-19 has caused more than half a million deaths in the United States and has hit some communities particularly hard, including communities of color.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, long-standing systemic health and social inequities have put many people from racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19. And, while many people have been able to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees have continued to work in person to keep campus safe, healthy and well cared for throughout the year.