Every day hundreds of people work behind the scenes to keep Prince Edward County running. We are profiling a few of the people that are ‘here for our community.’
Did you know that County staff have been involved in nearly every COVID-19 vaccination clinic in The County? We spoke with Lisa Lindsay, Director of Recreation and Community Facilities, who has coordinated The County’s support of vaccine clinics in our community.
When COVID-19 vaccinations first became available, Hastings Prince Edward Public Health reached out to The County for help finding a clinic location in the area. Vaccine clinics have specific needs: size, location, refrigeration and storage are all factors. The Recreation and Community Facilities team, led by Director Lisa Lindsay, was charged with finding a location that would meet all of these needs. “Staff identified the Rotary Club of Picton Hall as an ideal location,” says Lindsay. “We worked with HPEPH to develop a plan for using the space throughout the vaccination campaign.”
Once the plan was made, County staff remained involved with all of the non-medical aspects of running the clinics: room set up, traffic flow, security, screening, processing the vaccine data, sanitizing, patient monitoring, scheduling volunteers and communicating vaccination clinic information to the public.
Every clinic requires six people on site to work in non-medical support roles. Volunteers from nearly every County division work alongside members of community groups like the Rotary Club of Picton, Wellington Rotary, Prince Edward County Lions Club and the Picton Kinettes to staff each and every clinic.
When HPEPH and the Prince Edward Family Health Team began planning mobile vaccination clinics in the community, they again reached out to The County for help facilitating locations. The Recreation and Community Facilities team arranges the locations – whether at County-owned spaces like parks or private locations like the Giant Tiger parking lot. Operations staff puts out roadside signage. The Communications team rolls out information to the community. “County staff help with everything required to make the clinics possible except for drawing the vaccines and putting needles in the arms,” says Lindsay.
“Working closely with Public Health, the Family Health Team and the service clubs to deliver program to the community has proven to be a successful model,” said Lindsay. “Offering vaccine clinics in the community means that people can get their doses close to home, or simply go to a nearby clinic to speak with a medical professional to address their vaccination concerns.”
To date, County staff have been involved in 60+ clinics at the Rotary Club of Picton Hall and nine mobile clinics in locations across the County from Wellington to Waupoos, Cherry Valley to Consecon. For more information about upcoming vaccination clinics, visit The County’s website.
Read all of the Here for Our Community staff profiles on The County’s website.