Shots at the Schott
3/4/2021 10:00:01 AM | General
How The Ohio State University transformed an athletics facility into a COVID-19 vaccination site
by Lori Kurtzman, Senior Content Specialist, Marketing and Strategic Communications at OSU Wexner Medical Center
NACDA.com – As the sun sets in Columbus, Ohio, the line for the COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Jerome Schottenstein Center slows to a trickle. Inside, the final patients of the day sit down to tables in the concourse and roll up their sleeves.
A deep bass beat thumps throughout the arena. Behind thick curtains, an announcer thanks the evening’s sponsors. The ice resurfacer clears the rink. As The Ohio State University men’s hockey teams prepares to take on Minnesota, a health care worker arranges a bin of syringes.
Everyone and everything has had to adapt since the arrival of COVID-19, and nowhere is that more clear than at the Schottenstein Center, where a doctor monitors patient vaccinations from what used to be a beer stand.
Since January, the home of Ohio State basketball and men’s hockey — serendipitously nicknamed “The Schott” — has served as The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s all-day mass COVID-19 vaccination site, capable of accommodating more than 3,000 patients a day.
Meanwhile, Ohio State’s home games have gone on as scheduled.
“It’s been an extraordinary undertaking,” says NACDA Past President Gene Smith, Ohio State Senior Vice President & Wolfe Foundation Endowed Athletics Director. “What’s happening at the Schott is testament not only to the individual depth of talent across Ohio State, but to our ability to pull together for a cause that’s much bigger than any one of us.”
Read the full story at NACDA.com
