ID badge belonging to Sandra Lindsay
date: label: date made
content: 2016-2020
name: label: user
content: Lindsay, Sandra Leisa
label: maker
content: Northwell Health, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: On December 14, 2020, Sandra Lindsay, RN, director of nursing for critical care at Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, New York, became the first person in the United States to receive the FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccine. Following this event, Northwell Health donated material to the Smithsonian connected to the initial vaccination and vaccine roll-out. Sandra Lindsay’s ID badge, vaccination record card (see 2021.0008.04), and scrubs (see 2021.0008.05) were included in this donation.
label: Description
content: In a subsequent oral history interview recorded for the Smithsonian, Lindsay discussed the ID badge. The photograph on the badge was over five years old. It was taken when she worked at Lenox Hill Hospital, also part of Northwell Health. She was issued a new badge, but with the old photo, when she transferred to the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in March 2016. On her badge her first name is listed in bold followed underneath by her surname in smaller print. At Northwell, the staff, including management, are typically on a first-name basis, except for physicians who have their surname first on their badges, followed by their first name in a smaller font.
label: Description
content: Sandra Lindsay grew up in Jamaica and emigrated to the United States when she was 18. Living and working in New York City, she soon began training for a career in nursing and earned her associate degree from the Borough of Manhattan Community College in 1994. This training led to her first job as a clinical nurse at the Lenox Hill Hospital in the Upper East Side. Over the next six years, Lindsay continued her education, completing her bachelor’s degree (St. Joseph’s College, Brooklyn) and master’s degree (Herbert H. Lehman College, Bronx). Her interest in a leadership role, inspired in part by nurse executives at Northwell Health, led her to pursue an MBA degree from Hofstra University. By the time she completed this program, Lindsay had been promoted to the position of director of critical care nursing at Northwell’s Long Island Jewish Medical Center. In 2020 she led her nursing team through the emerging COVID-19 crisis, and in December she was selected by Northwell management to be the first to receive the Pfizer vaccine at their health care facilities. Her unexpected role as the first in the United States to receive the vaccine launched Lindsay into the national spotlight. She used that spotlight to advocate for vaccination, and to help counteract doubt and hesitancy especially among people of color. In March 2021 she also completed her work toward her doctorate in health sciences, focused on global health, leadership and organizational behavior (A. T. Still University).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Vaccination
label: Subject
content: Nursing
label: related event
content: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Donated by Northwell Health
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2021.0008.03
label: catalog number
content: 2021.0008.03
label: accession number
content: 2021.0008
objectType: label: Object Name
content: badge, identification, nurse
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 1/2 in x 4 3/8 in x 3/4 in; 16.51 cm x 11.1125 cm x 1.905 cm