On Wednesday the first small group of healthcare workers in the Estrie Region received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at Sherbrooke’s Centre de foires.
“It is really incredible. I feel like maybe there’s an end in sight now and it gives me hope,” said Jessika Lagimonière, who lives in Cowansville but works at a long-term care home (CHSLD) in Sutton. “We don’t see our friends or families anymore, but the workplace has become our family, and being able to leave here feeling like we’re able to better protect our colleagues and the residents we care for is just incredible news.”
Lagimonière said that despite everyone’s best efforts, work life under pandemic conditions has been a source of intense stress on a daily basis.
“No one wants to be the person who causes an outbreak,” she said. “We don’t want to endanger the residents we go to take care of every day.”
Lagimonière said that the team in Sutton has grown very close through the struggle.
“We’ve all worked together to keep our heads above water and stay positive,” she said, adding that everyone has played a part in trying to keep spirits high as the situation in the world has grown more dire.
According to regional Public Health Director Dr. Alain Poirier, the Centre de foires has a capacity to handle up to 2,000 doses per day, but is currently operating at a fraction of that level because of the number of doses available.
COVID vaccination underway in the Townships
By Gordon Lambie
