The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is looking to get more people in the north vaccinated.
Patricia Skalicky, primary health care manager for northeast areas one and two, which cover a large part of the far northeast, explained they are planning to do pop up clinics in certain communities to help get more people vaccinated.
“We don’t have a firm plan on what all those look like yet, but we do hope to collaborate with our local First Nations partners as well as pharmacies to provide that collective approach,” she said.
Skalicky said they are looking to focus on communities which have lower vaccine uptake compared to others.
“That’s sort of our plan to just keep digging until we get all of the people out,” she said.
To reach out to people directly, Skalicky said health care workers in her areas have gone out to beaches, been outside restaurants and camp grounds.
She added these locations have been chosen in large part because younger people tend to be around them and she said overall they have been successful so far.
“The people that do approach us are kind of the ones; they just haven’t really put much thought into getting their vaccine, because we’re there, because we’re visible they come over,” said Skalicky.
Nadia Makar a manager of primary health care for the northwest said in her experience talking in person with people about the vaccine can have a real impact when it comes to their decision on whether to take it, which makes getting out into communities helpful.
“We do find that, that face to face connection sometimes reduces that fear of the vaccine,” she said.
Makar said her area is currently dealing with some staffing challenges, which is limiting their ability to put on pop up clinics as much as they would like. However, they do plan to do some, including one on Friday at the Southbay Métis Family Gathering starting at 1 p.m.
To try and increase vaccine uptake Makar explained local community health nurses, many of whom are from the communities they work in, have been undertaking their own initiatives to reach out to people, which has included use of online platforms.
“We’ve been trying to utilize social media as much as possible at the local level,” she said.
(Photo Courtesy of Government of Saskatchewan)