NAMPA, Idaho — St. Luke's Health System has joined forces with a local outdoors company that is offering its coolers to store the hospital's doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Once stored, the doses are sent to rural communities, where many Idahoans are waiting for their shot.
Cordova Outdoors in Nampa and the Idaho company PharmaWatch are teaming up with St. Luke's to ensure Idaho's vaccine rollout remains on schedule.
St. Luke's uses seven of these coolers for daily transportation since they are able to keep vaccine doses at the appropriate temperature for up to eight hours.
“They had some technical equipment that was provided by PharmaWatch that would allow them to monitor the temperature and the location of the vaccine in real-time," Cordova Outdoors Principal Gentry Jensen said. "They just needed something to actually store it in."
Cordova was quick to express interest in assisting St. Luke's with their COVID-19 vaccine rollout, according to Jensen. The goal is to ensure all doses of the vaccine are kept at the necessary temperature until they reach the storage cooler.
"This was not something we modeled into our financial projections,” Jensen said. “That was the top moment, you know? Because there are business wins, but this one was bigger than that.”
The vaccine storage coolers keep the doses anywhere between 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit. This not only keeps vaccine doses from being wasted but also ensures Idaho's vaccine rollout moves along as efficiently as possible.
“I’ve got elderly parents, I want to see them vaccinated," Jensen said. "We have all had an experience with people struggling with the virus, so to be able to literally see what represents the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Jensen is currently talking with other health care providers across the Treasure Valley who are hoping to use his coolers for the same purpose.
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