Three vaccine initiatives in rural Frontenac and L&A.

Jeff Green | Mar 17, 2021

The excitement was palpable on Monday morning at a township fire hall just south of Sharbot Lake as Frontenac Paramedics, Central Frontenac Township and Sharbot Lake Family Health Team staff were getting ready for the first of 155 Family Health Team patients born in 1941, or earlier, to come and get their first dose of the Moderna anti COVID-19 vaccine.

The clinic was hastily set up last week after the team learned that they had the opportunity to get their elderly patients vaccinated close to home. Plans were already underway to use the fire hall for a clinic, as mobile mass clinics are being organised for April, but the time-frames were much tighter in this case.

And KFLAPH, mindful of the value of every dose of vaccine, insisted on an exact number of doses to be ordered in advance of sending them.

After phoning all of their over 80 year old patients, 155 doses were ordered, and delivered by Frontenac Paramedics on Monday morning.

The day went off without a hitch.

“It was very well organised,” said Shastri Ablack of Sharbot Lake, who said it took only five minutes to complete the paperwork, one minute to get the injection, followed by a 15 minute safety wait.

The Lakelands Family Health Team, in Northbrook, ran a clinic on Friday (March 12), at the local Lions Hall.

“We vaccinated 170 people, including 2 from our standby list,” said Janice Powell, Administrator of the family health team. “It took some great work by our staff to call everyone, explain the process to them, hand out consent forms in advance, and organise the clinic. All in a couple of days. The patients were very excited to get their shot, many of them have been isolated for a year now, and they see this as the way to end that. It was a great day.”

Dr. Bell, of the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team, echoed what Powell said.

“For our staff to be able to contact every one of these patients, while continuing to do all their other work, shows how committed they are,” he said.

Pharmacy rollout

Meanwhile, the rollout of vaccinations, at pharmacies in Inverary, Harrowsmith, Sharbot Lake and Northbrook also got underway on Friday (March 12).

The target cohort for the pilot project is people born between 1957 and 1961, the oldest group who were able to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine when the program was being planned.

(Ontario decided not to use AstraZeneca for people 54 and over based on a March 1 recommendation from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI). The NACI changed that recommendation on March 16, and is now recommending use of the vaccine for people over the age of 65)

The vaccines arrived at the pharmacies on Thursday, March 11, and vaccination started a day later. Plans to hold special clinics at nearby locations ended up being nixed by the Ministry of Health, so the pharmacies are doing all the vaccinating onsite, over the next two or three weeks.

Over the weekend, the Inverary Pharmasave was able to vaccinate 200 people, and pharmacy owner Leonard Chan is confident he can vaccinate another 300 during regular store hours before April 2.

April 2 is the date when the batch of AstraZeneca that is being distributed through the pharmacy based pilot project will go out of date.

Chan said that over the weekend most of the people who came for the vaccine were from the Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington region, but about 20% were from outside the region, as far as he could tell.

The Inverary, Harrowsmith, and Sharbot Lake Pharmasave stores, which are independently owned and operated, are all using an online app to book appointments for vaccination. There are no geographical restrictions in the electronic form, and people have been coming from near and far for vaccination to all of the locations.

Because the locations of the pharmacies are listed on the provincial governments website, Ontario.ca, and KFL&A is the only region east of Toronto that is part of the pilot project, the rural pharmacies have been over-run with phone calls.

In Sharbot Lake, a number of people from Ottawa have been using the service because it is the closest location where it is offered. One man who got his shot first thing in the morning on March 16, said that he booked online, and managed to get through to the store on the phone on Monday to confirm the booking.

“I told them I was coming from Ottawa and they said that was fine, so I came and it was quick and easy. I have a parent in long-term care and I;m looking forward to being able to visit.”

Eric Tobia, from the Northbrook Guardian Pharmacy, has had a staff member calling his clients to set up appointments.

“I only had two days notice, and there wasn’t enough time to organise an online system.,” he said.

He said the phone has been ringing non-stop and he has kept a waiting list of over 500 names, from all over the Province.

“I will start calling back when we are done with our own customers.

“It has been kinds of crazy, between changes in the rules from the government and the phone calls, we have been very busy. At least one family showed up from Ottawa, without even calling, asking if they could come in and get a shot. We had to send them away,” he said.

A third local vaccination initiative, in retirement homes, took place on Tuesday, March 16th. Over 50 residents, staff and essential care givers were vaccinated at Sharbot Lake Retirement and Retreat, and Countryview Care in Godfrey was also scheduled for vaccination on the same day. The Moderna vaccine was used in the retirement homes. Those clinics were organised and staffed by KFL&A Public Health with support from Frontenac County Paramedics.