March 18, 2021 Vol. 20, No. 11
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The Race Between Vaccine & The Variants Heats Up In KFL&A By Jeff Green he excitement was palpable on Monday morning at a township fire hall just south of Sharbot Lake as Frontenac Paramedics, Central Frontenac Township and Sharbot Lake Family Health Team staff were getting ready for the first of 155 Family Health Team patients born in 1941, or earlier, to come and get their first dose of the Moderna anti COVID-19 vaccine. The clinic was hastily set up last week after the team learned that they had the opportunity to get their elderly patients vaccinated close to home. Plans were already underway to use the fire hall for a clinic, as mobile mass clinics are being organised for April, but the time-frames were much tighter in this case. And KFLAPH, mindful of the value of every dose of vaccine, insisted on an exact number of doses to be ordered in advance of sending them. After phoning all of their over 80 year old patients, 155 doses were ordered, and delivered by Frontenac Paramedics on Monday morning. The day went off without a hitch. “It was very well organised,” said Shastri Ablack of Sharbot Lake, who said it took only five minutes to complete the paperwork, one minute to get the injection, followed by a 15 minute safety wait. The Lakelands Family Health Team, in Northbrook, ran a clinic on Friday (March 12), at the local Lions Hall. “We vaccinated 170 people, including 2 from our standby list,” said Janice Powell, Administrator of the family health team. “It took some great work by our staff to call everyone, explain the process to them, hand out consent forms in advance, and organise the clinic. All in a couple of days. The patients were very excited to get their shot, many of them have been isolated for a year now, and they see this as the way to end that. It was a great day.” Dr. Bell, of the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team, echoed what Powell said. “For our staff to be able to contact every one of these patients, while continuing to do all their other work, shows how committed they are,” he said. Pharmacy rollout Meanwhile, the rollout of vaccinations, at pharmacies in Inverary, Harrowsmith, Sharbot Lake and Northbrook also got underway on Friday (March 12). The target cohort for the pilot project is people born between 1957 and 1961, the oldest group who were able to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine when the program was
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being planned. (Ontario decided not to use AstraZeneca for people 65 and over based on a March 1 recommendation from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI). The NACI changed that recommendation on March 16, and is now recommending use of the vaccine for people over the age of 65.) The vaccines arrived at the pharmacies on Thursday, March 11, and vaccination started a day later. Plans to hold special clinics at nearby locations ended up being nixed by the Ministry of Health, so the pharmacies are doing all the vaccinating onsite, over the next two or three weeks. Over the weekend, the Inverary Pharmasave was able to vaccinate 200 peo- 100 year old Vietta McInnes recieves her first vaccination at Sharbot Lake Retirement & Retreat. ple, and pharmacy owner the pilot project, the rural pharmacies have been over-run Leonard Chan is confident he can vaccinate another 300 with phone calls. during regular store hours before April 2. In Sharbot Lake, a number of people from Ottawa have April 2 is the date when the batch of AstraZeneca that been using the service because it is the closest location is being distributed through the pharmacy based pilot to them, where it is being offered. One man who got his project will go out of date. shot first thing in the morning on March 16, said that he Chan said that over the weekend most of the peo- booked online, and managed to get through to the store ple who came for the vaccine were from the Kingston on the phone on Monday to confirm the booking. Frontenac Lennox and Addington region, but about 20% “I told them I was coming from Ottawa and they said were from outside the region, as far as he could tell. that was fine, so I came and it was quick and easy. I have The Inverary, Harrowsmith, and Sharbot Lake Phar- a parent in long-term care and I’m looking forward to bemasave stores, which are independently owned and op- ing able to visit.” erated, are all using an online app to book appointments Eric Tobia, from the Northbrook Guardian Pharmacy, for vaccination. There are no geographical restrictions in has had a staff member calling his clients to set up apthe electronic form, and people have been coming from pointments. near and far, for vaccination, to all of the locations. “I only had two days' notice, and there wasn’t enough Because the locations of the pharmacies are listed time to organise an online system,” he said. on the provincial government’s website, Ontario.ca, and KFL&A is the only region east of Toronto that is part of Continued on page 7
Godfrey Oil Spill By Jeff Green n Wednesday, March 10, Central Frontenac Fire and Rescue responded to a call regarding an apparent oil spill on Moon Road, a 1 kilometre dead end road off of Oak Flats Road in Godfrey, which has 15 houses on it. They found what was described, in a township release, as a “fuel-like substance on the road.” According to the release, “fire crews quickly contained the area, until the Ministry of the Environment, and environmental clean up crews, arrived on the scene and took over the clean-up.” The road was closed to all but local travel late into the week. A neighbour contacted the News about the spill on Thursday morning, March 11.
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“It appears that oil has spilled at a residence that was being used as a vehicle repair shop. It has already seeped a considerable distance down the road,” the neighbour said. The neighbour added that there were commercial signs on Moon Road, Oak Flats Road, and the residence itself, about the business. The neighbour also said that it appeared that the township had the situation in hand, and were working to prevent any oil from spilling into a creek which flows into Cole Lake, to the north of the road. Jamie Cook lived at the residence, where the oil originated, until some time in February. He said that he “operates a mobile repair business, and that any work I ever did at that house was done in a closed garage.
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Cleanup crews were on scene, working to contain the oil spill at a residence on Moon Road which occurred March 11.
I removed everything from the house, all the equipment, when I moved out.” He said that any oil that had accumulated from the operation of the business was collected in steel barrels and taken away to be burned by a friend of his in Napanee who has a waste oil furnace that burns re-
cycled oil. The residence is located at the top of a small hill, and Cook said that the only possible source of the spill, that he could think of, may have been a car, owned by his for-
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