Clinicians, staff, and student volunteers lead historic COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the U of G

The clinic aims to vaccinate 1,500 people each day in an effort to vaccinate the entire Guelph-Wellington population by June

 

Video by Nicolas Buck/The Ontarion

 

On March 15, the University of Guelph, in partnership with the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDG) and the Guelph Family Health Team (GFHT), opened a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in the University Centre (UC). 

The UC, formerly filled with students wandering around with Starbucks coffee cups pre-COVID, has been transformed into a mini-lab, housing a space for the Pfizer vaccine to be administered to Guelph-Wellington residents. 

The physician lead for the vaccination clinic is Dr. Joan Chan, a family doctor at Guelph Family Health.

The first week the university clinic opened, they were vaccinating a little over 300 people each day. However, Chan said they would be raising the number each week to about 1,500 people per day, adding that in the next few weeks they will likely be taking over another floor in the University Centre to be able to accommodate more people. 

The clinic is run by paid staff and clinicians, as well as over 500 volunteers to assist in the overall flow of the clinic, such as guiding patients on where to go, helping them check in and check out, and monitoring them afterwards. 

Despite Chan being involved in the planning of the clinic, the reality of it didn’t hit her until she was vaccinating her first patient. 

“I was like, ‘oh, I’m literally giving people a vaccine today.’ And it was amazing on the first day, I got to actually vaccinate one of my own patients.”

During that first week, she even vaccinated someone who hadn’t been out of their house in a year. 

“It’s just so special that people are taking the time to come and be vaccinated so that we can end this pandemic and people can get their freedom, get their lives back together,” she said. “It’s been really rewarding. People are tearing up, it’s like you get to give everyone a present.”

Chan says to expect the whole process to take at least an hour, in case there are delays. “It’s not like they’re going to pop in, get their shot, and pop out, like you would the flu shot at the pharmacy,” she said. 

Essentially, after registering and booking an appointment, patients can expect to wait in lines and go through a check-in process with COVID-19 screening questions. They will receive a medical grade mask as they enter the building, and someone will ask them for their contact information. 

After being vaccinated, patients are required to sit in a waiting area for about 15 minutes to “make sure they’re feeling okay and not having any reactions. There’s clinical care in case anything goes wrong,” Chan said. 

Then they check out, receive a receipt stating they’ve been vaccinated, and get information for booking the second appointment. Currently, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization says that people may wait up to four months before getting the second dose. 

“We know that it’s still safe and effective if you wait the four months, and that way we’re able to get more people their first dose” Chan said.

Volunteers are decked out in freshly sanitized PPE to help guide patients as well as “reassure them about any concerns they might have,” according to Guire Coyle, a fourth-year biomedical student who is one of these volunteers.

“We help people move their way through the clinic from the check-in process to the vaccination process, to the monitoring process afterwards, all the way through check out and back to their vehicle,” he said. 

For Coyle, volunteering at the clinic is an opportunity to be “a part of the solution to this kind of horrible thing that’s been happening for the last year and a half,” he said. 

“People are always very happy to have gotten their vaccine, and that’s a really rewarding experience knowing that you’ve been a part of that. So seeing people come out of the clinic happy and excited is definitely the best part.”

Katelyn Chadder, a master’s student studying applied nutrition, is one of the staff members who helps with the check-in process. 

Working at the clinic has been a chance for her to connect with the community. “It’s nice because with the isolation, I crave human connection right now,” she said. 

Chadder is there about four days each week. 

Chan noted that there are even physicians coming out of retirement to help with the vaccination clinic. 

“Everyone wants to be a part of it, even other community specialists, like nutritionists.”

Because vaccination eligibility is constantly changing, Chan says the best place to go to find out if you are eligible is the Government of Ontario website where they talk about the vaccine rollout. 

In the Guelph-Wellington region, “because we’ve been vaccinating so quickly, we’re actually already opening up to Phase 2,” so Chan suggests keeping an eye on the list. 

As a family doctor, Chan has personally registered some of her patients to ensure they get their chance. 

“I’m worried about their ability to read through that list and understand which category they are in. Often I put their child’s email and cell phone number, and then the child will be able to help them get their appointment later.” 

Immigration services is also offering workshops on the vaccine in different languages, and helping their clients sign up. 

“So we’re hoping that even people who are not as comfortable with English language communication and technology will still be able to sign up this way,” Chan said. 

It’s important for Chan that these services be as equitable as possible, no matter the language or physical capabilities of the patient. 

“Working with the utilities team or at U of G, if people don’t speak English as their first language, we can access translation as well as interpretation so that even if people don’t speak English, they won’t feel so disoriented going through this experience,” she said.

For elderly patients or people with mobility issues who struggle with the amount of walking required, they can come in a separate entrance and sit in the same spot for the whole process, from being checked in to getting the vaccination and waiting the 15 minutes after. 

The clinic is trying to respond as best they can to feedback from the community to make it more accessible. So far the feedback has been informal, but they plan to conduct a formal patient feedback survey soon.

In terms of people being wary of the vaccine, Chan said that “it’s hard not to be uncertain and fearful of yet another thing that you have to make a decision about, especially when there’s a lot of misinformation.”

However, she notes, “I didn’t become a physician to harm people, I didn’t become a physician to give people things that would hurt them. I’ve done my research, and I know people much smarter than me have done a lot of research. The eyes of the world, the scientific community, have been focused on these vaccines and making sure that you are safe and they work.”

While some people with underlying conditions should discuss the vaccine with their doctor, she notes that “the bottom line is this vaccine is for everybody. We know that even people who have rare conditions, who might be worried about getting the vaccine, if they were to catch COVID, it would be a more serious outcome,” she said. 

Ultimately, the healthcare team is there to answer all of your questions. 

“My hope is, through clinics like this, [and through the] conversations that we’re able to have with our patients, we can help re-establish trust through this point of connection, and that we won’t have so much hesitancy,” she said.

“I’ve gotten my first dose. I got it for myself, and more than that, I got it for my patients, for my loved ones, because if I were to catch COVID, I might have a serious complication, but I’m not that likely. But if I spread it to those that I love, they are more likely to get those complications, so this is like a collective community effort, we need to end the pandemic to keep each other safe.”

At the time of writing, the clinic should be open until September with the goal of vaccinating everyone in the region by June. However, if things change, they will reassess whether the clinic needs to stay open longer.

 

 

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