Port of Grays Harbor wins the 2021 Creative Partnership Award

The Washington Public Ports Association is pleased to award the Port of Grays Harbor the 2021 Creative Partnership Award for their collaboration with key community members to respond to the historic COVID-19 pandemic.

The Port of Grays Harbor was proud to partner with the Grays Harbor County Public Health COVID-19 Incident Management Team (IMT), Grays Harbor Community Hospital, Summit Pacific Medical Center, and Pasha Automotive Services to stand up the community’s first mass vaccination site at the end of January.   

The site is located in a warehouse within the Port’s Marine Terminal Complex.  Port customer Pasha Automotive Services had not been using the warehouse due to a change in business but was able to bring back several of their staff to work at the site.  The US Coast Guard was also both expeditious and instrumental in obtaining the necessary amendments to the Port’s Security Plan to safely and securely stand up the site within the Port’s secure area.   

A tremendous amount of coordination and communication from an array of local and regional partners went into the success of the site that can perform approximately 1,000 vaccinations per day, without the vaccine recipient ever leaving their vehicle.  Local partners that made this possible include the cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam, including their fire and police departments, Grays Harbor County Law Enforcement Agencies, Grays Harbor County Fire and EMS Agencies, the US Coast Guard, the Grays Harbor College Nursing Program, and hundreds of community volunteers.   

Grays Harbor residents have greatly benefitted from the many partners’ ability to make this critical mass vaccination site happen so quickly and efficiently.   Through early April, 15,405 doses of the vaccine have been administered at the site, accounting for nearly half of the doses administered in Grays Harbor County.  It has been a true pleasure watching the Grays Harbor community come together to make this possible. 

Mass Vaccination Site video:  https://vimeo.com/514500735