‘The first step:’ Nearly 100 Sherbrooke Community Centre residents receive COVID vaccinations

Wednesday was a day full of relief at the Sherbrooke Community Centre.

Since March, residents and staff have had to deal with the struggles of the COVID-19 pandemic. From mandatory isolation to added visitor restrictions, the pandemic took a toll throughout the facility.

But on Wednesday, 95 residents rolled up their sleeves to be vaccinated, protecting them from the novel coronavirus.

We received our first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine today at Sherbrooke! 102 doses to be exact.

Our nurses are vaccinating residents as I type this message.

Our residents are thrilled and we all feel so grateful! @LeishaCBC @zakvescera @CTVStephanie @BradyLangSK @HuttonCBC pic.twitter.com/EE4EZVVqa9

— Eric Anderson (@ericandersonyxe) January 14, 2021

“It has been an amazing experience. The residents and the staff here are so excited,” said Deb Schick, leader for professional practice at Sherbrooke and Central Haven Special Care Home.

“As the vials were warming up, there were people coming in and out of their rooms just to say thank you and how excited they were. It was just amazing.”

The first 95 residents received their vaccines on Wednesday, with an additional Pfizer shipment set to come Friday.

Second doses will start to be given in the first week of February. Schick said that Feb. 6 is the date that all 263 residents who want the vaccine would be fully vaccinated.

“It feels like it’s the light at the end of the tunnel, and we know that we still have to follow all the public health orders and the guidelines, and wear our masks and social distance … But we know that this is the first step to leading us back to a normal life. Being able to open up our community here at Sherbrooke is going to be fantastic,” Schick said.

Central Haven residents were to roll up their sleeves Thursday afternoon with their first batch of 24 doses to be administered.

Schick thanked public health, the Saskatchewan Health Authority, and all the frontline workers for their efforts throughout the pandemic, with an additional nod to the frontline nurses.

“It’s an incredibly huge project to roll this out. This is a lot of vaccine that requires some really precise work,” she said.