'You see the joy people have': Stouffville vaccine clinic showed reporter light at the end of the COVID tunnel

#2021Reflection: Dr. Pearl Yang from the Stouffville Medical Centre set up the vaccine clinic at SoccerCity

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 4, 2022
Simon Martin

April 2021 was not my favourite month. In fact, it was pretty dreadful. After a little more than a month of schools opening up after the post-Christmas lockdown, the children were sent home again.  Like many of you, my work-from-home situation was less than ideal. I was used to a newsroom full of heated debates, pho lunches and the clattering of keyboards (especially Heidi’s). Not a newsroom full of French songs, dirty diapers, granola bar requests and recess.

I had hit a low point, sneaking into my bedroom closet with my laptop to field a phone call, my head immersed in dress shirts that hadn’t been worn in 13 months.

I was tired of COVID. It was exhausting to go to work everyday and read about COVID numbers spiralling in a bad direction and then writing about. It felt sickening to say there were only 34 new deaths in Ontario from COVID-19 April 21.  Reporters are a cynical lot for the most part. It seems to come with the job, but there are moments where that can wash away.

That’s what happened when I visited the Stouffville Drive-Thru clinic at SoccerCity in April and met Dr. Pearl Yang.

Stouffville most likely wouldn’t have had a permanent vaccine clinic if it wasn’t for Dr. Yang. Residents would have had to go to Markham or Newmarket. I was wondering why Dr. Yang was taking time out of her busy job at Stouffville Medical Centre to set up this vaccine clinic.

“We want to get as many vaccines in arms as possible because that’s the only way to try and get over this whole situation,” she said.  

I found out that Stouffville Medical Centre had been planning an operation like this for close to a year. When the centre started thinking about doing its flu shot clinic in 2020, Dr. Yang said they thought it would be a great test run for COVID-19.

The town allowed them to use SoccerCity for the flu shot clinic.. Mayor Iain Lovatt told me there was never any hesitation in becoming involved. “It’s our council’s priority is to get everyone in town vaccinated,” he said.

It was the whole atmosphere of the clinic that moved me. For the first time, you could seem some light at the end of COVID tunnel. And while there were many paid staff helping run the clinic, there was also many people who volunteered their time to make it happen, such as Ivan Emke. He told me he was able to share some special moments with people from his role working in rest and recovery after people receive their vaccine. “For many people, this is the highlight of their year. They are so appreciative that this is there,” he said. “What other job gives you that opportunity?” Or Carolyn Reesor, who started helping in March trying to get the clinic up and running. Learning the COVAX system, ordering equipment, training staff on COVAX, talking on the phone with ministry, Reesor did a myriad of jobs. “I had no idea what I was getting into. It was pretty intense. It's a lot of details,” Reesor said.

Reesor told me the only reason the clinic happened was Dr. Yang. “Nobody else would have put the time and effort that she did,” she said. It felt like the community was coming together and getting behind a common cause.

So on May 10, when it was finally my turn to get my first dose, I headed to the drive-thru clinic. A smooth 15 minutes and I was in rest recovery with my first dose and a big smile on my face. The air I breathed felt like it had more oxygen. I couldn’t help but think of something the mayor told me and think he was right. “I joke this is the happiest place in Stouffville, but for lots of people, it is,” Lovatt said. “It’s seeing the relief on people’s faces. You literally see the joy people have.”