Embry Health in Mesa is offering free vaccination events for employers anywhere in the state looking to get their employees vaccinated against Covid-19.
Raymond Embry, CEO of Embry Health, said that companies of any size can set up vaccination events, from agencies with 20 employees to those with thousands. Embry Health is currently offering the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but the specific vaccine brand is subject to change.
Embry Health worked with Maricopa County to provide Covid-19 testing in recent months, and Embry said that experience has helped the company prepare to distribute the vaccines.
“I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but things at State Farm stadium are starting to fall apart, because unfortunately, we're repeating the same mistakes we did originally with Covid-19 testing,” Embry said. “Those large, massive sites do not work to serve an entire state. We need community-based sites, we need employer sites, we need a really big mix.”
Earlier this week Embry Health hosted a private vaccination event with Fox Restaurant Concepts in Tempe. Over the course of two days more than 1,500 doses were administered to FRC employees.
“Every Arizona Fox Restaurant Concepts employee wanting to be vaccinated will be by the end of March,” Sam Fox, founder of FRC, said in a statement. “This was made possible by our terrific healthcare partners, Embry Health and Maricopa County.”
The company grew out of Embry Women’s Health, which was founded in 2014 in Mesa. Embry Health has access to the vaccine through Maricopa County.
Property management companies are also encouraged to get in touch to schedule vaccination events for tenants, so multiple employers can be serviced at once.
Embry said it is typically taking a week or two between setting up an event and the event actually happening.
Employers interested in scheduling vaccination events through Embry Health should contact development@embryhealth.com or visit the company's website for more information.
Meeting the times
JoEllen Embry founded Embry Women’s Health in 2014 and Raymond, her son, was her first employee and co-founder.
JoEllen, a women’s health nurse practitioner, had worked in medicine for 30 years when she decided to go into business with Raymond.
“We sort of just figured it all out together,” Raymond said. “We had to be very scrappy and creative and be able to think on our feet and move quickly and so I think that's part of what prepared us for Covid-19. We really saw the need and we believed that we could do it.”
Embry Health was spun out last spring to address the pandemic and the company has now helped conduct Covid-19 testing across the state.
“When we started the testing division officially at the end of June, beginning of July with those drive-thru sites, we had zero employees in that division,” Embry said. “By October we had 300 employees and by January we had over 1,200 employees.”
Embry said he anticipates having 2,000 employees on the payroll in the next month in preparation for mass vaccinations.
