BATON ROUGE - Our Lady of the Lake has partnered with minority churches in North Baton Rouge to host a series of pop-up vaccination sites.

The hospital receives a certain number of Moderna vaccines from the state, which they are using to vaccinate congregation members from a select few churches in North Baton Rouge who may not have the resources to get to OLOL's other campuses.

One life was changed for the better Friday at OLOL's LSU Mid City location when she was finally administered the COVID-19 vaccination after months of trying to get on the list.

Before the Louisiana Department of Health changed its vaccine requirements, Charlyn Payne didn't qualify. She says the journey to get to this day has been a hard one, especially after losing her daughter when COVID cases were at an all-time high.

"We didn't have a funeral because we didn't want everybody to get together and that hurt. We couldn't even settle on how the services were going to go," Payne said.

Our Lady of the Lake's pop-up clinic serves as the light at the end of the tunnel for Charlyn, as she can move forward with healing with family in a safe way.

Organizers say in just a few hours, 150 doses of the Moderna vaccine were distributed in Mid City and in 28 days, a second dose will be administered.

Charlyn was excited and relieved to get her first dose.
"Come out. It's worth it. It could save your life. The life of your family. Things like that," Payne said.

While the pop-up vaccination sites are specifically for congregation members in North Baton Rouge, those who qualify and are interested in getting vaccinated can apply for an on-site appointment online by clicking here.