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Health unit's door-to-door pilot project brings vaccines to arms

'It’s really helping us target people who didn’t come to our mass immunization clinics,' says health unit official

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

It could be public health.

The South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre, in conjunction with the Wasaga Beach Fire Department, the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit and the Town of Wasaga Beach, have been working together on a pilot project that has helped get vaccines into the arms of residents who may have faced barriers in trying to get out to a mass immunization clinic.

The door-to-door pilot targets vaccines to low-income areas of South Georgian Bay.

“Each community has a mass vaccination clinic, but, now that we’re getting through them, we need a more specialized and targeted approach to reach vulnerable people who are a little bit harder to reach,” said Heather Klein Gebbinck, executive director of the South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre.

The pilot first ran on July 7, and also ran on July 13. On July 7, 147 doses were administered in five locations across Wasaga Beach including The Dychonia, Seventh Lane and Zoo Park Road’s affordable housing units. The special clinics aren’t publicized to avoid walk-ins so specific amounts of the vaccine can be prepped as to not waste any vaccines.

“We had no idea how many people would show up. We ordered 180 vaccines because we just had to pick a number and go for it. We know how many doors there are but we don’t know how many are going to take us up on it,” she said.

Gebbinck said Wasaga Beach firefighters are knocking on doors in the communities, and are inviting the residents to come out to clinics set up in the parking lots of each building. For people with severe mobility issues, some health care workers along with Wasaga Beach firefighters have administered vaccines in people’s homes.

Any residents who take them up on their offer are also signed up for a second dose appointment on Aug. 11, when the clinic will make the rounds a second time to each location.

Gebbinck said on the first day, they had people trickling in until 4, then were slammed with people interested.

“We were still vaccinating until 10 p.m. We were starving!” she said, laughing. “We were so happy with the uptake.”

As of July 13, 50 per cent of the region's adult population (18 and over) has received two doses of a vaccine against COVID-19. Approximately 48 per cent of the region's 12-and-over population has been fully vaccinated.

About 33 per cent of the region's total population is still unvaccinated, which includes children under 12 who are ineligible for a vaccine at this time.

“As we’re looking to ramp down our mass immunization clinics, we are looking at doing more outreach in the community. It’s really helping us target people who didn’t come to our mass immunization clinics,” said MaryAnne Holmes, acting vice president of the immunization department of the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. “It’s really important to us as we’re trying to reach that 80 to 90 per cent coverage rate to ensure herd immunity in our community.”

Across Simcoe-Muskoka, Holmes said the region has been split into six areas: Muskoka, Couchiching, North Simcoe, South Simcoe, Barrie and area and South Georgian Bay. Each of the six areas is tasked with coming up with an outreach strategy tailored to their residents.

Holmes said other outreach endeavours in South Georgian Bay have included reaching out to people who are home-bound, who live in congregate settings such as shelters and group homes for on-site vaccinations, as well as vaccinating local migrant workers.

Through the pilot project, Gebbinck says her team has seen people with varied reasons preventing them from attending one of the mass clinics.

“Out of the ones we vaccinated, there have been quite a few who had been to the mass vaccination clinics for their first dose, and we gave them their second dose,” she said. “There were quite a few that said if we didn’t come to them, they wouldn’t have gotten vaccinated. It’s not that they’re anti-vax. It was more that it takes a lot of effort to co-ordinate, to find transportation, stand in line and do all these things.

“Some people don’t have computers. Some people don’t know how to work the internet. For some, it was too overwhelming of a process for them, so they were choosing not to have it done. The reason they agreed to have it done, is convenience,” said Gebbinck.


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Jessica Owen

About the Author: Jessica Owen

Jessica Owen is an experienced journalist working for Village Media since 2018, primarily covering Collingwood and education.
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