PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A Treasure Coast pulmonologist is partnering with the city of Port St. Lucie to help vaccinate residents.
Dr. Mark Pamer has been fighting the pandemic on the front lights since 2020 when he volunteered to go work in New York City.
"The city is providing the spots and then some administrative people to take care of the non-medical paperwork," said Pamer. "When we started this per patient, the paperwork per patient, per vaccine, is 30 to 40 minutes, and you can imagine that's not possible to do on a large scale."
On Friday, he and his team vaccinated 306 residents, many of whom lived in the Kings Isle community, an area city officials said is under served.
"Everybody just said God bless," said Morgan Shultz, who helped administer vaccines. "We had tears in our eyes, on our faces and under our masks."
"Our plan ultimately is to try to get to some of the larger venues where we're able to do over 1,000 vaccinations at a time," said Pamer.
Pamer said the pandemic has caused him to put his private practice somewhat on hold, but that his work is now more rewarding than ever.
"So much of our effort has been trying to get people vaccinated," said Pamer. "Which is equally important because we're dealing with the worst pandemic we've had in 100 years."
He said he and the city are working on setting up other vaccination sites in the near future.
"We believe in what we're doing and we're willing to do whatever it takes to get this done," said Pamer. "Whether it's standing in 90-degree heat or freezing weather, we're here to help our fellow citizens with no regard for anything other than just trying to help."