Boy's death prompts rush to get vaccine.
Hundreds of people lined up for several hours at the Etobicoke Civic Centre this week to get their H1N1 flu vaccine.
Staff photo/ANICE WONG
The hallways of Etobicoke Civic Centre (ECC) were lined with hundreds of mothers and young children, seniors and health care workers Wednesday – all waiting to get immunized against H1N1, most with one little boy on their minds.
“Evan. We’re here because of Evan for sure,” said Amanda Thomson, referring to 13-year-old Etobicoke hockey player Evan Frustaglio, who died of a confirmed case of H1N1 on Monday, Oct. 26.
Thomson, who came out to Wednesday’s clinic with her husband, four children aged 6 to 13, sister, brother-in-law, and three nieces and nephews, said her oldest son used to play hockey with Evan, so his tragic death hit that much closer to home.
“I feel just terrible for his family,” she said. “We’re taking (Evan’s) dad’s advice, and getting our kids vaccinated.”
A little further up in the queue, Carol Sloan said her reason for pulling her two older kids, aged 6 and 7, out of school at noon, and bringing them, along with her two year old, out to the Civic Centre was also Evan-related. Her 18-year-old nephew attends Hill Academy, the small Vaughan school for young athletes where Evan was enrolled.
“My nephew was quarantined. We got a call yesterday and were told to go to (an immunization) clinic because my kids were around him recently,” she said of the phone call she received from Toronto Public Health (TPH). “I was sent home to clean before picking the kids up, and now we’re here.”
Security was tight at ECC Wednesday afternoon just an hour into the day’s immunization clinic, as guards kept strict control over the 200+ crowd. While the bulk of the line-up snaked the main corridor on the upper level of the Civic Centre, staff sent small groups down to the lower level, where TPH employees had the clinic set up in meeting rooms.
While TPH said Wednesday’s clinic was an unadvertised one designed strictly for city staff and health care workers, only a few among those lined up wore tell-tale nurses scrubs, but those who did were quickly ushered to the front of the queue. TPH workers onsite declined to comment.
Rishma Govani, TPH spokesperson, said the decision not to turn anyone from the general public away Wednesday was a “tough call.”
“There was the availability (yesterday), and we really do want maximum participation, so that call was made,” she told The Guardian Thursday. “But today, we can’t do that. We don’t have the doses, we don’t have the nurses (to accommodate that).”
At William Osler Health System’s Etobicoke General Hospital site, staff in the emergency department have seen a surge in patients suffering from flu-like symptoms, said spokesperson Todd Leach.
“We are experiencing higher than normal volumes,” he said. “Typically, we see a daily average of about 190 visitors. Yesterday we saw 232 in the emergency room, and we’re expecting that number to increase in the coming days. It’s definitely adding pressure, but we’re managing those volumes.”
Leach said between 50 to 60 per cent of those attending emergency have flu-like symptoms, and several (although he could not provide numbers) have been admitted with suspected cases of H1N1. Most patients, though, have only been suffering mild symptoms and have been sent home to follow-up with Telehealth Ontario.
Leach urged those with only mild symptoms to call their family doctor rather than travel to the emergency room.
At a press conference on Wednesday, TPH said immunization for high-risk Torontonians – pregnant women, children six months to five years of age, people under 65 with chronic health conditions, household contacts of children under six months old and immunocompromised people – was to start on Thursday, operating from noon to 7 p.m. at the North York Civic Centre’s members lounge at 5100 Yonge St. and the East York Civic Centre at 850 Coxwell Ave.
On Friday, Metro Hall (Room 310) will be open at 55 John St. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the Scarborough Civic Centre’s rotunda at 150 Borough Dr. will be offering immunization from noon to 7 p.m.
On Saturday, clinics will be offered from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Timothy Eaton Business and Technical Institute at 1251 Bridletowne Circle, the Melody Public School gym at 24 Strathburn Blvd., the East York Civic Centre at 850 Coxwell Ave., and the Etobicoke Civic Centre at 399 The West Mall.
On Monday, clinics will run from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. for the general public at the East York Civic Centre, the North York Civic Centre, the North Toronto Memorial Community Centre at 200 Eglinton Ave. W., the Etobicoke Civic Centre, Melody Public School, the Masaryk-Cowan Community Recreation Centre at 220 Cowan Ave., the Scarborough Civic Centre, the North Kipling Community Centre at 2 Rowntree Rd., and the Timothy Eaton Business and Technical Institute.
Starting Tuesday, they will run from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. until Friday, and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.