BRIGHTON, N.Y. — High-risk health care workers in Monroe County started receiving the COVID-19 vaccine this week, and soon residents and staff in nursing homes will be next in line.

What You Need To Know

  • Nursing home residents at the Friendly Home will get the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of December

  • Families have to sign forms granting permission for loved ones to get the vaccine

  • Nursing homes are working with the CDC, Monroe County Health Department, and New York State Department of Health to distribute the vaccine

“Our mom Philomena is in the Friendly Home and she’s been there for several years. She’s 101 years old. We have been visiting her every day up until March this past year. Been able to go in, see her, feed her, whatever,” said Barbara Colucci of Penfield.

Twin sisters Barbara and Christine Colucci see the vaccine as the light at the end of the tunnel and are anxious to increase visitation with their mom at the Friendly Home in Brighton.

“The Friendly Home has been very good about communicating with us and they basically have said the vaccine is on its way, that the staff and the members there at the nursing home will get vaccinated by the end of the year. So we’re looking at the last week in December,” said Christine Colucci.

The Friendly Home and four other senior living groups are part of the Alliance for Senior Care. 

The organization released a statement about the vaccination process, saying in part:

“Along with many other long term care facilities across the state and nation, we plan to participate in a distribution program with the CDC and will be working closely, and in full cooperation, with the Monroe County and New York State health departments to deploy it to residents and staff who wish to receive it, free of charge.”

“We were a little skeptical at the beginning about the vaccine, particularly for someone of her age group. Hadn’t heard a lot about that data,” Christine Colucci said.

“A little nervous about having her receive it at her age, she’s quite frail. But we did talk to several medical professionals, including our gerontologist, and we feel comfortable it’s the right thing to do at this point. And really we see it as one of our only ways of possibly being able to increase our visitation before mom passes because she’s at 101. We don’t expect to have her much longer with us," added Barbara Colucci.

The sisters say the long-term care facility is planning a meeting with them on Wednesday to learn more about the vaccination process. The family plans to sign off within the next week, giving consent for their mom to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“It’s a very personal decision and everybody has to go through their own thought process with their loved ones. But in our case, we feel comfortable and trusting the medical professionals, and getting their advice. And with that being the case now, we feel pretty confident that things are going to be good and it’ll be effective,” said Christine Colucci. “We’re excited that we can finally think about maybe getting back to a normal schedule of visits with our mom again, seeing her again, hugging her again. It’ll be wonderful if we can get to that point sooner than later.”