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Jan. 15-Jan. 21, 2021
Queens ‘Polio Pioneer’ among fi rst to receive
COVID-19 vaccine at Whitestone nursing home
Irene Mentel, 73, receives the COVID-19 vaccine at the The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Queens in Whitestone.
Vol. 30 No. 3 24 total pages
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Irene Mentel, a 73-year-old
resident at The Grand Rehabilitation
and Nursing at Queens in
Whitestone who was among the
first to be vaccinated for polio in
1954, is now among the first to
receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Mentel received the Pfizer-
BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday,
Jan. 6, when the nursing
home, located at 157-15 19th Ave.,
received its first shipment. Second
doses are expected to be delivered
in 21 days.
At the age of 6, Mentel was
one of three students in her
class to receive the polio vaccine,
as it was still controversial.
Now, Mentel is proud to be
receiving the COVID-19 vaccine
and hopes to be an inspiration
to other nursing home residents
who may be nervous.
“We took a series of three
shots and I received a certificate
that called me a pioneer,” Mentel
said in a video. “Just as we
wiped out polio, I hope we wipe
out COVID-19.”
Mentel was born in Queens,
but was living in Providence,
Rhode Island, when she received
the polio vaccine. She
was deemed a “Polio Pioneer”
from the National Foundation
for Infantile Paralysis (now
known as March of Dimes).
Mentel says she has hope for
a better future and can’t wait
to hug her daughter, Sue, once
again. When asked to write
down who she got vaccinated
for, she immediately jotted down
her grandson’s name: Mathew.
Both Sue and Mathew live in
Forest Hills.
During a video call, Sue was
Courtesy of The Grand Healthcare System
excited to hear that her mother
received the vaccine.
“I’m so happy! That is the
absolute best news I’ve heard
in many, many months,” Sue
said. “Thank you to everybody
at The Grand. I am so excited.
I’m hoping all of the staff gets
vaccinated, and I hope everyone
gets a moment to feel a little empowered.”
Shelley Serber, creative director
at The Grand Healthcare
System, said Jan. 6 was an “absolutely
monumental day” at
the nursing home.
“It’s been a long few months
for us and to receive the vaccine
and to see joy in staff members
and residents’ faces, it was incredible,”
Serber said. “There
wasn’t a dry eye in the room, and
it’s a day I will never forget.”
In December, residents and
staff members at nursing homes
across New York state began receiving
the COVID-19 vaccine
during the first phase of the vaccination
process.
According to Gov. Andrew
Cuomo, 611 facilities in New
York have enrolled in the federal
government’s Nursing Home
Vaccination Program, in which
staff and residents receive vaccinations
through a partnership
with pharmacies like CVS
and Walgreens.
According to the latest data,
288 facilities (or 47 percent) have
completed the first dose for
residents. Through state facilitation,
234 more facilities will
administer the first dose during
the week of Jan. 4.
This will ensure that 85 percent
of facilities have administered
the first dose to residents
by week’s end, with the remaining
15 percent to be completed
over the next two weeks.
/QNS.COM
