City emergency management director Merrick Brown presents to city council on Monday night.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
The city and province are discussing how to speed up the volume of traffic heading in to and out of the current vaccination centre at the Medicine Hat Stampede grounds.
On Monday, Calgary city officials revealed the Telus Convention centre in that city’s centre would be provided for a mass vaccination clinic.
Medicine Hat director of emergency management Merrick Brown tells the News his department is also in contact with health officials to
“We are in initial discussions with AHS about how we can support them as they ramp up daily doses,” said Brown, who says similar discussions have been ongoing for most of the past year.
For vaccination, municipal help likely would not come in the form of use of a major facility, like an arena, for vaccinations, said Brown, but city resources could bolster the effort.
“They’re very happy with their facility,” said Brown. “We were up there today to have a look (at transportation issues) and there is room for improvement.”
Currently AHS is vaccinating mainly seniors at Higdon Hall of the exhibition grounds, where annual flu clinics typically take place. Right now, only those over 75 in the general population are receiving vaccines, but new groups are being registered, and this week the province outlined new groupings that would be available when a larger volume of doses begin arriving next month.
The local site is also next to a massive parking lot as well as the Cypress Centre Field House.
The site is also known for its access problems during Stampede Week, mainly from two intersections from Dunmore Road that are not controlled by traffic lights.
As the frequency of COVID vaccinations quickens, said Brown, the city could provide traffic abatement, officers to direct traffic, or other supports.
City cops in vaccine queue
Medicine Hat police officers and some firefighters will be prioritized in a future phase of the vaccine rollout that includes some essential workers, health authorities outlined Monday.
The province announced eligibility for Phase 2B groups of the vaccine rollout that will begin with shots in April to June, mostly including all adults with certain serious health conditions.
When that nears completion, registrations for Phase 2C would include correctional workers and medical providers, among others.
Brown says police qualify and some local firefighting staff that are certified to perform onsite emergency medial treatment (city crews are dispatched to serious car accidents, and other health emergencies when timely).
“Our primary concern that we’ve had through all this is our ability to maintain business continuity,” he said, stating the city’s position was that utility and frontline transit staff would be classed as “essential” workers as they have been in other provinces.
