Vaccination clinic opens in Tillsonburg
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The new Mass Immunization Clinic in Tillsonburg was ready to officially open its doors at the Lions Auditorium on Tuesday morning.
The first 180 people to receive their COVID-19 vaccine will enter the north entrance of the Tillsonburg Community Centre, next to the Lions Auditorium. After completing the vaccination process, people exit the east doors on the opposite side of the auditorium.
“We’ll have Town of Tillsonburg staff directing flow and helping people make their way through,” said Ryan Hall, Deputy Chief – Operations & Performance for Oxford County Paramedic Services, who along with Susan MacIsaac, Director of Operations at Southwestern Public Health, was instrumental in getting the health unit/paramedic services partnership established, and getting the clinic off the ground.
Before leaving the clinic, patients will the opportunity to have their ‘vaccination selfies’ (photos) taken.
“We modelled this clinic off the Woodstock clinic and used their ‘best practices’ and ‘lessons learned,’” said Hall Friday.
To book an appointment at the Tillsonburg clinic, call 226-289-3560 from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. (toll free at 1-888-333-2175), or an even better option, book online at www.covidvaccinelm.ca.
The list of those currently eligible to receive vaccine at the clinic, as of Monday, includes those 60-and-older, indigenous aged 16 and older, all health are workers, residents, staff and essential care givers associated with long term care and retirement homes and congregate living centres, adults 16-plus who receive chronic home care, faith leaders, education staff who provide support to students with complex special needs, and as of Friday anyone who is pregnant.
If you need help booking an appointment go to https://forms.swpublichealth.ca/COVID-19-Help-List where you can fill out the form and be contacted by health unit staff.
The clinic will remain open for several months – as long as people are still coming in for vaccinations.
“We’re in this until it’s over,” said Hall. “When there’s no one left to be vaccinated, that’s when we’ll call our job done. And I think that’s the same sentiment Public Health has.”
“As long as people continue coming to these clinics, we’re going to continue having them,” said MacIsaac. “So we certainly encourage people to book appointments. That’s really our priority, we made it accessible for them to do that. So I think this is a great partnership between us and Oxford County Paramedic Services and the Tillsonburg area as well. We’re grateful that the Town of Tillsonburg has offered this space for us to use as well.”
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It was ‘all hands on deck’ since they got the go-ahead about three weeks ago, which included work from Southwestern Public Health staff, Oxford County Paramedic Services staff and Town of Tillsonburg staff.
“It’s been a tight collaboration between all of us, for sure,” said MacIssac.
The COVID-19 vaccine, either Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech, will be administered by Oxford County Paramedic Services staff.
“We’re hoping to administer Moderna there, but it will all depend on the availability,” said MacIsaac.
“We will be putting the needles into the arms,” said Hall. “We will be the vaccinators (at the Tillsonburg clinic).”
The site will also be managed by Oxford County Paramedic Services, supported by the local health unit and the Town of Tillsonburg.
The Town of Tillsonburg provided the facility at the Tillsonburg Community Centre, as well as some recreation staff who will help with some non-clinical roles, including preliminary screening at the entrance, helping to direct the flow of traffic, and sanitization measures.
Open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday, 180 was the daily vaccination capacity to start. Depending on vaccine supply, that may increase.
“We will have the option of ramping up doses if possible,” said Hall.
The Tillsonburg clinic’s hours of operation are currently longer than those in Woodstock and St. Thomas, and that can be attributed to paramedics typically working 12-hour days.
“Paramedics are used to working 12-hour shifts, so I think in 12-hour increments,” said Hall. “So with a little bit of setup and a little bit of takedown time, that leaves a 10-hour clinic. Knowing that we are running Monday to Friday, I wanted to go into the evening to give people the opportunity after work.”
In conjunction with the vaccination clinic, Oxford County Paramedic Services also has two mobile paramedics to vaccinate homebound people.
“Our paramedics staff have been on the front line since Day 1 of this, along side Public Health, but when the opportunity came to offer the vaccination (at a clinic) more than half of our staff raised their hand and said ‘I want to be involved.’ So we will be cycling through probably over 50 paramedics through the clinic as we progress over the next six months or so.”
cabbott@postmedia.com
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