Our Road To Vaccinating My Mom (THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE).

My mom got vaccinated today. I cried.

This is the reality of elder care.

Here she is. My mom- getting the first dose of her Moderna vaccine.

2 months after she qualified for one.

My mom is EXTREMELY vulnerable. She is 2-3 person to assist, occasional hoyer lift and spends most of her day in bed. She is overweight, in her 70s and has had numerous dementia diagnoses for over 11 years. She is THE at-risk person you hear about on the news. Yet, due to barriers in our healthcare system, it took months to get her a vaccine. Almost everyone I know has gotten a vaccine- and she was left behind.

My mom occasionally exhibits behaviours, is not someone you can rationalize with, is almost 100 percent deaf in both ears, and has not left her house since 2019 (until today). She has never entered the world of COVID, she does not recognize a world full of masks and face shields, and she will absolutely not keep a mask or a face shield on. She just doesn’t understand it. She also is not able to go into a car anymore- she can only travel by wheelchair and therefore needs a specialized wheelchair taxi. This is also a huge concern as she will not wear any face protection INSIDE the taxi.

My mom was eligible to be placed on a list for home-bound vaccines 2 months ago. As far as I understand, this list currently has over 6000 names on it (and there are many many more who are not on it as they have not yet been identified). We are located in Toronto, Ontario (Canada), with a population in many millions. The government has planned to deploy EMS workers to give home-bound vaccines in our city. And as far as I heard last week- they have not yet reached her large area of the city (might I add, she lives in what is considered a high-risk postal code area of the city).

As a frontline healthcare worker, I am very fortunate to have access to some INCREDIBLE minds in our system. After months of rising cases, and still no vaccine for her in sight, I began to reach out to some of my contacts, asking them what I could do. In addition to numerous healthcare workers, I additionally approached my mom’s member of parliament, the mayor of Toronto, the Premier of Ontario… As my mom would not keep on any mask or face shield, could a vaccination clinic give her a shot outside the door of the clinic so that she was not risking her and others’ lives?

No one could give me an answer to my question- and I was told by several people that clinics were not permitted and were not vaccinating ANYONE outside of the clinic doors. I was baffled. What was I supposed to do in this situation? The province is saying that they need to protect their most vulnerable, and here is my mom, the most vulnerable- and cannot get a vaccine.

I completely understand there are policies in place- but we are in such a unique, desperate situation. No one had a solution. More often than not I was told that I just had to wait for the clinic to come to her home.

Well- we had enough. After suggestions from some incredible colleagues of mine, we decided to balance our risk, make an appointment at a nearby geriatric hospital (the only one I felt where staff could TRULY understand her situation), booked a wheelchair taxi and prayed for the best. I met my father and my mother’s nanny at the clinic with my husband- we needed all hands on deck here.

I could only imagine how TERRIFIED my mom must have been (we had some additional medication on hand to calm her down if needed- medication that she already takes but that her neurologist has guided us to provide more of if needed). We needed to have familiar faces there and multiple people to calm her, to hold her hands if needed, to rub her back to calm her down. Occasionally, my mom will bite, hit and scratch and we needed to ensure she would not do this during her vaccination- that she would stay calm and still.

Then came the moment of truth- my mom refused to wear a mask during the taxi ride but she was able to keep a face shield on for maybe 2 minutes at a time without throwing it off onto the floor. We approached the door, placed on her face shield, and went into the clinic. Upon entering she threw it off (called it). The staff were flustered- she could not enter without protection. I calmly explained her diagnosis and that there was no way she would keep it on.

Out came the exceptional clinic manager. He presented me with two options. Two options no one else was willing to provide at any other facility- he could have a physician come meet her OUTSIDE the door to administer a vaccine, knowing her situation, or we could be placed in a private room to protect her as she would not wear a mask, and to keep her calm and comfortable considering the chaos around her and what would seem like an apocalyptic world to her.

We chose to take her to the private room since it was cold outside. In this room, she was able to sit, safely and calmly where she was finally met by the doctor who gave her the vaccine. I cried. She got it.

I wrote the manager of the clinic a note of praise, thanking him for potentially saving her life. For doing what no one else was willing to do for her in her situation.

But then I came home and I realized- when it comes to elder care, we were lucky. My mom was lucky. She was lucky to have a family member who works in the system. She was lucky to have a husband who could assist her, a daughter who could be by her side, a son-in-law and a private nanny. HOW MANY PEOPLE are there in this city who are completely alone, isolated, homebound and at risk. Who do not have the means or ability to hire private elder care? Who cannot get to a clinic on their own or navigate a clinic on their own? Who receive home care supports, and food delivery services and who are potentially exposed to this virus on a daily basis.

I have seen, with the influx of cases, how absolutely horrible and devastating this virus can be on someone’s life. Some of my own patients have been on the brink of death MULTIPLE times in the course of one hospital stay, making it out on the other side barely able to function or walk, having to rebuild the pieces of their lives and facing a new reality at the age of 70 +. It is not a joke. And this system is not allowing some of the most vulnerable to be protected.

Elder Care During COVID-19: This Needs to Change

This NEEDS to change. This cannot continue. There are so many in this city who need a vaccine right now. So many lives that can be saved.

We need to raise awareness. This should not happen.

If you were in any way shocked by this story, moved by this story, or confused about how this was even happening- please, share it. Let other people know that this is happening. Let’s get all of these people vaccinated. We need to get homebound vaccines moving. We need to save these people.

This cannot continue.