Karen Woodson felt like she was “grasping at straws” while trying to get a hold of COVID-19 vaccines for her residents at the Fitchburg Chapel Valley Senior Apartments earlier this year.

Woodson, who oversees the building as Asset and Property Manager for Fleming Development, told the Star that getting her residents vaccinated, most of whom are over 65 years old, was possible because of Fitchburg Family Pharmacy.

Setting up a clinic in the building, Woodson said 20 residents received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine during a two-session clinic in early March.

She said in February, around 40 residents expressed interest in becoming inoculated, and signed up for the Chapel Valley clinic. But because of a vaccine shipment cancelation, the clinic was pushed back three weeks, leaving about 20 residents to get the vaccine through different avenue, like their healthcare provider, she said.

With the exception of that, Woodson said that the clinic ran smoothly. She said that was thanks to Fitchburg Family Pharmacy owner and pharmacist Thad Schumacher and a team of volunteers set up in the Chapel Valley community room.

She said that residents who could not attend the clinic were still taken care of.

“The great thing at the end is I had four people who weren’t able to get a vaccine during my clinic,” she said. “Thad got their information from me and he had them come the very next week over to his pharmacy, and the four of them got vaccinated right away.”