Members from 4 Wings Assist with Pa. Vaccination Event

Lt. Col. Stephen M. Rocketto
Assistant Public Affairs Officer
Connecticut Wing

Leaders from four wings turned out to support a weeklong mass COVID-19 vaccination operation in downtown Philadelphia, standing watch at a busy intersection outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center to assist candidates for inoculation.

Responding to the Pennsylvania Wing’s call for assistance, the volunteers from the Connecticut, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin wings were responsible for greeting vaccination candidates, determining which vaccine they needed and asking them required health-related questions. They then guided the visitors to the appropriate entry lane. A CAP member accompanied those who needed wheelchairs through the entire process, from entry to a pickup point.

Federal Emergency Management Agency professionals and AmeriCorps volunteers conducted the campaign. U.S. Marines based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and U.S. Navy corpsmen from the Fleet Marine Force were detailed to Philadelphia for temporary tours of duty.

The CAP contingent was led by Senior Member Gary Chizever, a physician who serves as the Wisconsin Wing’s director of safety. Joining him were:

• Col. Ken Andreu, former New York Wing commander, now adviser to the Northeast Region commander
   
• Col. Tom Carello, former New York Wing commander, now adviser to the win commander
   
• Lt. Col. Benjamin Kulper, commander of the Ohio Wing’s Youngstown ARS Composite Squadron and, like Chizever, a physician 
   
• Lt. Col. Pat Magee. New York Wing vice commander
   
• Lt. Col. Stephen Rocketto, Connecticut Wing director of aerospace education