Vaccination rates in rural Pierce County are low. A local pastor wants to change that
There are the small victories, and then there are the gut punches. Dan Whitmarsh has experienced some of both.
Whitmarsh, 52, has been the pastor at Lakebay Community Church for 15 years. It’s a small Christian evangelical congregation — with roughly 45 members, he says — tucked into rustic Key Peninsula. With roots dating roughly a century, the church reflects the community it has long served: rural, largely white and proudly independent.
It’s the kind of place where talk of COVID-19 — and efforts to convince people to get vaccinated against it — can get tricky, Whitmarsh says. Like many places removed from Pierce County’s urban core, vaccination rates in Whitmarsh’s community are lagging.
But that hasn’t stopped Whitmarsh from trying to change that, and among Pierce County religious leaders, he’s not alone. As the spread of the delta variant continues to spike cases and hospitalizations while quickly chipping away at the hope and optimism so many of us felt just a few months ago, trusted faith messengers like Whitmarsh — who know rural Pierce County and how it ticks — feel called to serve, and believe they can make a difference.
Let’s hope — or pray, if you’d prefer — that they’re right.
Whitmarsh describes himself as “very much pro-vaccine and pro-mask,” and said his concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and “what it’s doing to our world” have compelled him to use his position — and his pulpit — to encourage people to think about the safety and well-being of others when deciding whether or not to get vaccinated.
At its best, Whitmarsh says his efforts have led to thoughtful, fact-based conversations and personal introspection. Roughly 80 percent of his church is vaccinated, he estimated.
At its worst, his sermons and endorsement of common sense public health measures have led a handful of one-time congregation members to leave the church in search of a new place of worship.
“It can be frustrating, and disheartening,” Whitmarsh acknowledged Monday. “I drove by anti-vaccination protests on Saturday, and right in the middle of it were two people who had been a part of my church, but left over this. They were … protesting the use of vaccines. And those moments can be heartbreaking.
“I think the success I’ve had has been in toning down some of the rhetoric and then dismantling some of the propaganda and personalizing the issue,” he continued. “You know, taking it out of conspiracy theory and bringing it down to the realm of the people in the room around us, which does cause people to approach things more respectfully.”
According to Associated Ministries executive director Mike Yoder, Whitmarsh is one of a growing number of local faith leaders who have stepped up in recent months in hopes of increasing Pierce County vaccination rates and encouraging other COVID-19 safety precautions, like wearing masks indoors.
Smaller weekly meetings organized earlier this year by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and elected leaders like Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards and Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier have blossomed into something bigger, Yoder said, with Shiloh Baptist Pastor Gregory Christopher and the Tacoma Ministerial Alliance recently gathering roughly 50 faith leaders of various denominations from across the county and local public health experts for an outreach and listening session.
Designed to answer questions and convince local church leaders to take a more active role in promoting vaccinations — or at the very least help to provide accurate information to leery congregants — Yoder and Christopher described the meeting as a success they hope to build on.
It won’t be easy, they admitted, but both men told The News Tribune that they feel like there’s a leadership void that local pastors and church leaders are inherently equipped to help fill.
While Yoder says it’s clear that stark political divisions remain — and many church leaders are conflicted over what he described as “the lines between church and state” — he said much of the conversation has focused on a larger question that cuts to the chase: “What is our moral obligation to lead in a time like this?”
“Being a conduit of truth is a very, very important role for clergy and faith leaders to play,” Yoder said. “How do we want to show up and say, ‘This is what we are committed to doing.’”
At this stage in the pandemic — when anyone who “really wanted to get vaccinated” has already done so — small-time, one-on-one interactions like the ones local faith leaders are able to facilitate are increasingly important, according to Tacoma-Pierce County COVID-19 Rural Health Promotion Coordinator Daniel Burdsall.
Burdsall’s work with the health department is focused on increasing vaccination rates in Key Peninsula and the White River area — where case rates are higher and vaccination rates are lower. Without the help of leaders like Whitmarsh, it would be nearly impossible, he said.
Part of the Health Department’s efforts include hosting weekly “Casual and Connected” vaccine clinics — every Friday through September — at the Key Peninsula Community Council Office. Similar events are scheduled at the Bonney Lake and Sumner food banks. Part of the objective, Burdsall said, is making sure that people know that the health department “isn’t a boogeyman.”
While the turnout has been modest so far according to health department officials, Burdsall said that every little bit matters — and there’s no question that people like Whitmarsh have already been a huge help.
“Dan is such a great, phenomenal stakeholder in that community. He knows the community, lives in the community, understands what people are happy about or sad about, and what their concerns are,” Burdsall said. “He’s been incredibly important. I wouldn’t be able to have a presence (in Key Peninsula) and the Health Department would have difficulty having a presence without people like him.”
For Whitmarsh, it’s all part of the job — even if it’s also new territory.
“There are legitimate questions about government overreach, and governments telling churches how to worship and government’s telling us what to put in their bodies. I understand all that, and I don’t want to brush those concerns off,” Whitmarsh said.
“But I also recognize we’re in the midst of the worldwide pandemic, and 625,000 Americans are already dead. The Delta variant is rising,” he continued.
“In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures are required.”
