For months, staff acted as ehm clients’ vaccine hunters – making countless calls to local pharmacies and doing research online to track down available vaccines. It’s through this work that we built a relationship with Toronto Fire Services, Toronto Paramedic Services, and Toronto Public Health to offer our own weekly on-site vaccination clinics at ehm.
ehm is home to a large number of seniors, tenants with physical disabilities, and issues related to their mental health, which made getting their COVID-19 vaccine difficult. When vaccinations began, many clients couldn’t physically get to a vaccination clinic because it was too far to walk, too confusing to schedule, or they had difficulty arriving to appointments. For some, having an ehm employee by their side helped them feel less fearful, and more trusting of the vaccine. For others, it meant they wouldn’t face the anxiety of being in a large, unfamiliar crowd. Having an on-site vaccination clinic is critical to ehm clients because it removes the barriers that keep the people who need it most, from getting vaccinated.
Because of targeted outreach and small clinics in the spaces where those in need spend time, the rates of vaccination within ehm’s postal code is now among the city’s highest.
Every Monday between 9:30am to 12:00pm we hold our on-site vaccination clinics. Vaccines are administered on a first-come first-served basis. For more information about getting your vaccine at EHM, contact information@evangelhall.ca.