NORFOLK, Va. (May 04, 2021) – “The more people that we get immunized, the more people will be able to travel and see their families,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Desiree A. Steinhilber, an Inpatient Pediatrics Department nurse assigned to Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. “We are all just hoping and trying to get back to what normal was before COVID.”
Steinhilber, who has been deployed in support of the federal vaccine response since the end of March, is currently deployed to the Community Vaccination Center (CVC) at the former Macy’s in Military Circle Mall in Norfolk, Virginia, assisting in providing vaccinations at the state-run, federally supported CVC.
“I have enjoyed working here. Of course there are long hours with trying to get everyone vaccinated,” Steinhilber said, who is used to running a small vaccine clinic as an ambulatory care nurse in an outpatient clinic at medical homeport in Portsmouth. “This type of operation is in my wheelhouse, I like this stuff, ultimately it’s in my comfort zone.”.
Steinhilber states she fell in love with nursing when she was an enlisted hospital corpsman, having the opportunity to work with a lot of prior military and mustangs, who started out themselves as corpsman and became Navy nurses. She enjoyed working with them so much that it inspired her as a then Petty Officer 2nd Class Steinhilber to apply for the Navy Medical Enlisted Commissioning Program (MECP) in 2011.
Three days before Christmas she received her answer that the Navy was going to send her to school to receive a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and upon graduation earn her commission. “It was an amazing Christmas gift for me and my family,” Steinhilber said. Six months later she was released from her command at Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune and went on to earn her bachelor’s degree at University of North Carolina (UNCW) at the Wilmington campus.
Two years later, she welcomed her graduation and was officially commissioned as a Navy Corps Officer. Her first assignment as a nurse and new Ensign was back to Camp Lejeune. “It was a really cool opportunity – as a hospital corpsman I learned much of the basics and I did a lot of nursing care on the job. Going to nursing school provided the whole picture, but I was already comfortable with the hands-on elements due to my background.”
Steinhilber is one of the 122 Sailors assigned to the CVC open to the public seven days a week to meet their mission goal. “It’s been good not only to serve my country but serve a whole community, helping them get vaccinated. There are so many that want to get vaccinated and have not had the opportunity or access, we are here providing that so that’s amazing,” Steinhilber said.
The operation tasking is to provide approximately 3,000 shots a day within two months, having the ability to provide the community with more than 18,000 shots. “It’s a big number each day, there’s been a couple times when we’ve actually hit that number or come very, very close. The more we can get, the better vaccinated the community will be and hopefully build up its immunity bring back some sort of normalcy,” Steinhilber said.
Sailors from across Hampton Roads are supporting Department of Defense federal vaccine response efforts in CVCs across the country. U.S. North Command, through U.S. Army North, remains committed to providing continued, flexible Department of Defense support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of the whole-of-government response to COVID-19.