Up to sixteen Rotarians per day, help the nurses, doctors and other staff ensure that the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines run smoothly at the Dryden Arena.
These are supplemented by 4 to 6 other citizens as about 20 people are required to support each vaccination day clinic.
As many as 400 Drydenites have received their vaccine shot in a single day.
The key organizer of the clinic is Shelly McLarty, a nurse, while Julia Withers, a Health Inspector, is the logistics coordinator. Both work in Dryden with the Northwestern Health Unit.
The organizer of the volunteers has been Rotarian Christine Smith. With more clinics being organized, Christine has been quite busy this month.
Some of the tasks the volunteers perform are:
- organize the people into their time slots in the line,
- assist with parking when necessary,
- do screening when entering the clinic,
- next is a greeter who takes the client to the check-in recorder,
- once checked in another takes them to the vaccine waiting area,
- when open another directs them to the station where they get the actual vaccination and
- the next one shows them to the post-waiting area where after 15 minutes they may go to the check-out recorder.
- One volunteer monitors and assists in the waiting area.
| ||
 Organizing the line |  Screening | |
 Greater directs the client to the Check-in station |  Check-in reviews your Health Card data and appointment time | |
 Being directed to wait area |  Vaccination station |
 Being directed to post-vaccination wait area |  Checkout station |
Some of the issues the volunteers have faced are people coming to the clinic at the wrong time, or not wanting to stay after they have had their shot, however, Christine noted, “All in all, people are pretty happy to be here!”
I asked Christine, as a volunteer and a Rotarian, how she felt about organizing this. “I feel very fulfilled about doing this,” she replied, “We are moving back to being normal and all the volunteers are giving such incredibly positive feedback. They are happy to be here and want to work as many hours as they can and are so ready to just jump and do whatever needs doing. It has made the job of organizing so much easier.”
I also got a chance to ask Julia what the most challenging logistical thing has been to organize. Without hesitating, she replied, “Making sure everyone got their lunch break when it was scheduled.” She too complimented the extra distance staff were willing to go to make the clinics work smoothly for everyone.
Perhaps the final word rests with Dr Whittaker when he said, “You folks all make us look like superheroes.”