LYNNFIELD — Margot (Kreplick) Bloom spent most of the pandemic using her pharmaceutical skills to assist others throughout the COVID-19 vaccination process while overseeing the vaccine distribution at Fenway Park and the Hynes Convention Center.
Bloom received a pharmacy degree and worked in pharmaceutical sales for more than 20 years, following in her father’s footsteps after he spent the majority of his career as owner of the bygone Paramount Drug on Union Street in Lynn.
Although she never actually practiced with her pharmacy license, Bloom had a great deal of experience working in the field in positions in pharmaceutical sales at Rite Aid and then Eaton Apothecary in Lynn.
“My family is from Lynn, so it was kind of like I went full circle when I worked at Eaton because they were two blocks from where my father had his pharmacy,” Bloom said.
Eaten was bought out by CVS, and so Bloom left for another opportunity — which then got stripped away when the pandemic hit, leaving her unemployed.
In addition to the loss of her job, the pandemic also brought on the loss of her loved ones.
Bloom’s friend Karen Nascembeni lost her husband, Steven Richard, 58, to COVID-19 while Karen was in a drug-induced coma from the same virus.
Richard died five days after being admitted to the hospital, and Nascembeni got his bed after. Nascembeni said that even though she was in a coma, she sensed that her husband had lost his battle to the rampant virus.
She had introduced Bloom to her husband and they had all been friends for a while, so Bloom said the couple meant a lot to her.
A few days after Richard died, his father died from COVID-19. After that, Bloom’s friend and father-in-law died from COVID-19, too.
The loss of her job, friends and family made the pandemic tough for Bloom, but she said it seemed like fate when, shortly after, she got a job offer to be the vaccine coordinator at Fenway Park.
“I felt like this was Steve looking out for me,” Bloom said. “This was my role to play in the pandemic.”
Bloom said throughout all of this, she kept Richard’s memory close to her heart, even wearing shirts in honor of Richard when she got her COVID-19 shot and then for her first couple of shifts at Fenway, too.
“It was just really interesting to know that their story resonated with so many people, and I think they were looking out for me like ‘OK Margot, this is your calling,'” Bloom said.
Bloom’s job was to oversee the distribution of vials of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, keep track of the number of syringes used, count the number of vials left at the end of the night and try to keep everything running smoothly.
At its peak, Bloom said Fenway distributed about 1,300 syringes per day, with most people saying it was a smooth, easy process.
Fenway was open for vaccine distribution from Feb. 2 until March 28, when baseball games returned. When that site closed, Bloom went to the Hynes Convention Center, where she continued in the same position — but on a much larger scale.
The Hynes site absorbed the project at Fenway, and Bloom said the peak at Hynes was about 7,300 vaccinations per day.
The Hynes location then closed in late June, and Bloom said she is unsure of her next step, but said she is happy she was able to have a positive impact on people’s lives, especially during the pandemic.
Her days at the clinic usually began at 4 a.m. and lasted until 8 p.m., so Bloom said she is now going to take some time off to think of her future plans while spending time with her family.
“This job has opened up a lot of opportunities, and a lot of skill sets that I knew I had but I hadn’t exposed,” Bloom said. “Working at Fenway was a nice way to ride out my career.”
After experiencing the ups and downs of the pandemic and working to overcome it, Bloom said she is extremely grateful for the opportunity to take part in saving the world from COVID-19.
“I hope and pray that science continues to work,” Bloom said. “This has been such an eye-opening experience that I will never forget.”
Careerwise, Bloom said if she gets another job, she wants it to be something that makes others smile. She said she’d be happy just scooping ice cream and getting to talk to and meet people every day, and share stories and laughs together.
“I just want to help make the world a better place,” Bloom said.
