ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — The owner of an Owings Mills treatment center that's been closed since March said getting her staff and patients vaccinated is key in being allowed to reopen, but she said it can't happen now after 200 vaccine appointments she scheduled for them were canceled by the Anne Arundel County Health Department.
Kim Shower, who is the owner of Maximum Health Services, said her company treat patients who are mentally ill or dealing with drug addiction and homelessness.
Shower said she received a link from the county health department, which was used to schedule the vaccine appointments for her patients who live in group homes and are eligible for the vaccine. They've been on a waiting list with other providers for weeks, she said.
Shower said she confirmed the appointments with the health department by phone multiple times. She also said she even went to the vaccination site, which is at Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland to make sure everything checked out okay.
“They punched in all of our patients and said yes they do have appointments we are all setup," she said.
However, the day before her patients and staff were set to get the vaccine,
She received a phone call from the health department informing her all of the appointments were canceled because they did not live in the county.
“And I said okay, but on your website, if you scroll down it said Baltimore City and County," she explained. "I spoke to three people regarding this issue and everybody said it was not a problem.”
Shower said the cancellations are disappointing because getting her staff and patients vaccinated would have given her a chance to reopen for the first since the pandemic began.
“This was an opportunity for us to bring the people in and get the mental health treatment they needed and potentially save people lives," she said.
"There are so many people that have cancer that have underlying diagnoses that need the vaccine and we are at such a disservice to them because we keep making promises that we are not fulfilling," she added.
On the Anne Arundel County Health Department website, it states the county is only vaccinating county residents over 75 in phase 1A and phase 1B group.
According to Shower, that was not included in the link the health department sent her to schedule the appointments.
WMAR-2 News reached out to the health department and was told they are looking into her case.
