Vaccination site to open at Willow Creek Community Church in Crystal Lake

Crystal Lake will host a COVID-19 vaccination site at Willow Creek Community Church starting April 7, the city announced on Facebook.

The city had been working for about a month and a half to bring a mass vaccine location to the city, the county’s most populous, acting Mayor Haig Haleblian said.

“This vaccination site serves as a testament to vision, perseverance, collaboration, and strong leadership to deliver the best in services to our residents of Crystal Lake,” Haleblian said.

The site, at 100 S. Main St., will host vaccinations by appointment only and will be open to McHenry County residents and workers who fall into phases 1a, 1b and 1b+, according to the McHenry County Department of Health.

Other locations in Crystal Lake also offering vaccination appoints are the city’s two Walgreens locations, Jewel-Osco and Mariano’s.

“We are continuously looking at opportunities to expand the number of vaccination sites to meet the high demand for vaccine in McHenry County,” McHenry County Public Health Administrator Melissa Adamson said in a news release. “As more vaccine begins to flow into the county, additional locations will open including drive-thru sites.”

Crystal Lake initially gave the McHenry County Department of Health a list of vacant spaces for them to use as potential vaccine facilities, such as the old HH Gregg and Joseph’s Marketplace location. To do that, the city talked to landlords and property owners to see if they were interested.

Haleblian said Willow Creek volunteered its facility for use.

“There’s plenty of parking and easy traffic flows,” Haleblian said. “It just really was a nice little dovetailing of Willow Creek, the health department and the city of Crystal Lake.”

Willow Creek Crystal Lake could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

For now, the Willow Creek clinic will be staffed by the department’s mobile team, when they are not at other locations, so exact dates and times for the clinic are still to be determined, said Lindsey Salvatelli, a spokeswoman for the McHenry County Department of Health.

The county’s other vaccination site, located in a former Kmart on 1900 N. Richmond Road in McHenry, will remain the health department’s main stationary location, Salvatelli said in an email. It will continue to operate six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday.

Along with the Illinois National Guard, Crystal Lake police, paramedics and public works employees will help out at the new site as well, Haleblian said.

While Donald Kountz, a candidate for mayor of Crystal Lake in the April 6 election, is happy to see a vaccination site open in the city, he said he is disappointed with its limited hours and days.

“I think there could have been more done faster,” he said. “We knew we needed a mass vaccination site over a year ago.”

However, Kountz said he appreciates Willow Creek for allowing the city to use its facility and the people working to administer the vaccine.

Another candidate, Jim Sisto, posted on Facebook that he was “fascinated” to hear this was in the works during a joint interview with all Crystal Lake mayor hopefuls Tuesday.

“I hope this plan comes to fruition and offers a convenient option for our residents,” he said, the day before information about the official site was posted on Facebook.

Haleblian said the city hopes to eventually increase the number of days and hours the site is open.

It took a lot of work to get Crystal Lake a vaccination site, Haleblian said.

“There’s a lot of a lot of legwork to come up with a site,” he said.

Other city officials shared Haleblian’s enthusiasm about the new vaccine site.

Crystal Lake City Council member Mandy Montford said it’s an outstanding opportunity for residents.

“It’s something that our current mayor and city leadership has worked really hard on,” she said. “Local access to a vaccination site will open up opportunities for our residents who may be either homebound or have health challenges already. ... I just think the easier we can make it for residents, the higher the rate of vaccinations we will have here locally and the better off we’ll all be.”

Crystal Lake council member Ian Philpot echoed this sentiment, saying he’s eager to to help the city do what it can to coordinate with the county.

“We’ve been asking the county how we can help for months, and it’s exciting to see this come to fruition,” Philpot said. “I’m eager to see how the mass vaccination site works.”

More information about the local vaccination rollout is available at the health department’s website or calling 815-334-4045.

How to sign up for an appointment

To receive a vaccination at a clinic run by the McHenry County Department of Health, check for open appointments by completing the questionnaire at covidvaccination.dph.illinois.gov and search for open times.

Those without internet or who need assistance with booking an appointment can call the health department’s COVID-19 Call Center at 815-334-4045 or the Illinois Department of Public Health’s vaccine scheduling hotline at 833-621-1284.

Photo identification is required to receive the vaccine at the clinic and those who are a resident of another county but work in McHenry County must show proof of their employment.