Tag: COVID-19

CTVNews article published April 24, 2021

By Colton Praill, CTV News, Ottawa

OTTAWA — Against a backdrop of multiple waitlists, cancelled bookings, and the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine appointment, some Ottawa family doctors are offering a simple solution. 

A drive-thru clinic that vaccinated hundreds of people on Saturday. 

“The process was amazing. We got an email from our family doctor, made the appointment for both of us at the same time. Made the appointment for 12:10 and at 12:15 we were finished,” said Nicole Katz, who received her vaccine at the clinic in the parking lot of The Metropolitan Bible Church. 

Katz says she was able to book the appointments for her and her husband within days of the email from her doctor. 

“Going through the family doctor was good, it felt like we were going through a process that exists, a system that already exists,” Katz said.  

She was just one of hundreds of people passing through the parking lot Saturday, guided by dozens of volunteers and vaccinated by a team of medical staff. 

“This is our bread and butter. We do vaccines every day, we do masked flu shot clinics every year. This is what we do. We love vaccines and frankly, we’re good at it,” said Dr. Nicole Shadbolt, a family physician with the Rideau Family Health Team and one of the organizers of the drive-thru clinic. 

Shadbolt says organizing the clinic took patience and was a challenge for her booking team. 

“We did a flu shot clinic in the fall with the same process so we kind of tested the model. The difference is with the COVID vaccine there’s a provincial database that is fairly heavy for us so getting the electronics working was a bigger job,” she said. 

Once a plan was in place, getting patients to book appointments was easy. 

“People like being in their car, they’re happy, it’s easy for us, the flow works, we don’t have people running into each other. The key piece is that the MET Bible Church was able to give us their parking lot and they’ve been very cooperative. You couldn’t do it without a big space like this,” Dr. Shadbolt added.  

Across the city another family doctor organized a pop-up clinic of her own. 

“There are a lot of people in Ottawa who haven’t been able to access the vaccine and we wanted to get it out to as many people as possible to ensure everybody would get the first dose available to them,” Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth said. 

With help from city administration, Dr. Kaplan-Myrth closed Fourth Avenue in the Glebe on Saturday. Outside Common Ground Collaborative Care dozens of essential workers waited for a vaccine. 

“These are all people who are falling through the cracks, who are on wait lists at pharmacies, who can’t get into public health, and you know I said that family doctors would do what we could to immunize the community so this is what we’re doing,” Dr. Kaplan-Myrth said. 

In a province where getting a vaccine appointment has proved challenging for many, these two doctors created the opposite. 

“It was really great, super smooth and I was really impressed there were doctors to talk to and ask any (about) questions or concerns or anything that we had,” said Bianca Saccu, who received her shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine at the drive-thru clinic. 

Both Dr. Shadbolt and Dr. Kaplan-Myrth say family doctors are in unique positions to get the vaccines into the community and ensure those hesitant to get the vaccine have the right information. 

“I spoke to one patient today who drove by me and said, ‘I’m really worried, are you sure, is this a good idea?’ As the family doctor I was able to say yes, because I know this about you and I know your history and I know this is the right choice for you,” Dr. Shadbolt said. 

“There’s so much heartache. People who want the vaccine but are struggling to get it and so many inequalities in terms of how people are able to access the vaccine, so we’re just doing our best on a community level to make sure we’re able to vaccinate more people in Ottawa,” Dr. Kaplan-Myrth echoed. 

Both doctors say they hope to get more vaccine supply to continue their vaccination efforts within the community. 

“People will step up so quickly to get this done, the real barrier is the bureaucracy,” Dr. Kaplan-Myrth said.  

Read the full article here

Blackburn News published April 20, 2021

By Josh Boyce, Blackburn Sarnia

The Central Lambton Family Health Team (CLFHT) is launching a COVID vaccination clinic this week after receiving 200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The mass clinic is being held at Petrolia’s Greenwood Rec Centre on Friday, April 23, from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.

Executive Director Sarah Milner understands people might be hesitant to get the AstraZeneca vaccine after hearing about rare cases of blood clotting.

“There’s generally less chance of a blood clot getting a COVID vaccine, like AstraZeneca, than there is even for women who are taking birth control,” said Milner. “Everything comes with risk, and there are different things that cause a risk of blood clots and COVID is one of them. Actually, the risk of getting a blood clot if you’re positive for COVID is higher than the risk of getting it from AstraZeneca.”

According to Thrombosis Canada, there is no overall increased risk of developing a blood clot after receiving any of the approved COVID-19 vaccines.

Milner encourages those with concerns to speak with their doctor or pharmacist.

In order to qualify for Friday’s clinic, you must be over the age of 40, have not received an initial dose, and be a patient of one of 10 doctors at the CLFHT.

To book an appointment, go to app.getcorigan.ca, email the health team at info@clfht.com, or call 519-882-2500.

Read the full article here

Timmins Today published April 20, 2021

By Maija Hoggett, Timmins Today

With a significant surge of COVID-19 cases across the Porcupine Health Unit region, medical officer of health Dr. Lianne Catton says people are sharing it amongst themselves in the north.

“There are not a lot of links to travel with this surge. We need to recognize that our actions with our own communities right now as northerners who look out for one another, who have a great reputation for working together and having tremendous resilience — we’re spreading it amongst ourselves. We’re not needing the travel to really bring this surge on right now,” she said in an virtual update today.

To date, there have been 511 confirmed cases of the virus in the region. Of those, 392 are recovered and 25 people have died. There are 94 known active cases. 

As of April 17, the weekly infection rate is 86.3 cases per 100,000 population.

There have also been 99 variants of concern — mostly the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7) strain. Since March 25, Catton said 60 per cent of cases are now variants.

Because of the time it takes for positive tests to be screened for a variant, she expects that number is actually much higher.

“The spread patterns of this strain are alarming and very concerning and really speak to the fact that we need absolute diligence with the measures that we know make a difference,”  she said.

Those measures are social distancing, wearing a mask, washing your hands, and staying home and getting a COVID-19 test if you feel unwell.

There are seven outbreaks in the area — McEwan Mining – Black Fox Mine, Glencore’s Kidd Mine, Black River-Matheson town staff, St. Anne English Catholic School, Iroquois Falls Secondary School, Iroquois Falls Public Schools, and Pope Francis elementary.

“What we’re seeing in the area — we’re seeing obviously a tremendous increase in cases, tremendous spread, incredible number of high-risk contacts per case. Last week we had the highest number of high-risk contacts on average compared to other health units, which is really alarming and concerning, it’s a significant amount of work,” she said.

Last week, the province extended the stay-at-home order and state of emergency. Further restrictions were also put in place.

Catton said the recent surge in cases locally “speaks to the fact that we did need further measures in place.”

“We need people staying home, we need people to stop interacting with those they don’t live with unless it is absolutely essential and that is how we are going to get through this,” she said.

Vaccine clinics are being offered across the region.

So far, 23,920 doses have been administered. 

Moderna is the main vaccine that has been used. This week, Catton said Pfizer will also be used locally, mostly at Timmins clinics because of the storage and handling requirements. 

Three pharmacies, the Kapuskasing Family Health Team, and the Timmins Academic Family Health Team are offering the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The best vaccine, said Catton, is one that that is offered that you are eligible for.

There are COVID-19 assessment centres in Timmins, Cochrane, Iroquois Falls, Matheson, Kapuskasing, Smooth Rock Falls, Hearst, and Hornepayne, as well as communities on the James Bay coast. 

The Porcupine Health Unit COVID-19 information line can be reached at 705-360-4819 or 1-800-461-1818.

People eligible for a vaccine can register for upcoming clinics in the region here. Select pharmacies are also delivering the vaccine. Find a list of those and book an appointment here.

Read the full article here