CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Ninety-eight-year-old Arthur Johnstone became the first resident of a P.E.I. long-term care facility to be vaccinated for COVID-19 on Monday.
Johnstone has been a resident of Whisperwood Villa, a community care and nursing care facility in Charlottetown, for more than four years. On Monday morning, he was administered a first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Johnstone was succinct when asked how receiving the vaccine would affect his life.
"I really can't explain. It's relief and hope," he said.
Public health officials said they expected 170 residents and staff at Whisperwood to be administered the vaccine on Monday, including all 130 residents of the facility. Prior to Monday, the vaccination effort had been administered only from the Queen Elizabeth hospital and had been largely limited to frontline health-care workers.
“It's quite an honour, really. But as far as the needle, I never felt it," Johnstone said after receiving his first dose.
Johnstone said his wife is also a resident of Whisperwood but is in a different section of the facility. He has been able to get permission to visit her and said he has been able to see his son and daughter over the fall. Nonetheless, the public health-imposed restrictions on visits have been a concern.
"What I miss is outside visitors. You know, you talk to your family on a daily basis, but it's the people from outside family that have outside interests that is more important to you," Johnstone said, referring to the early period of the pandemic.
Johnstone praised the administration and staff of Whisperwood Villa, a private long-term care facility, as well as P.E.I.’s chief public health officer Dr. Heather Morrison and her team.
"We're special here on the Island because we have no one in the hospital and the operators of homes like this – care is number 1, profit comes number 2," Johnstone said.
P.E.I. has so far avoided outbreaks of COVID-19 within long-term care facilities. The province appears to be unique in this respect; elsewhere in Canada, the second wave of the COVID-19 virus has had a disastrous impact for residents of long-term care facilities and their families.
The vast majority of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Canada have been linked to long-term care facilities.
As of Monday, P.E.I. had received enough doses of the Pfizer vaccine for 1,950 people and enough doses of the Moderna vaccine to administer to 600 individuals.
Jason Lee, CEO of P.E.I. Seniors Homes, which operates Whisperwood Villa, said the arrival of the vaccine was a relief.
“It feels like we've reached the point where we start to stop playing defense and start going on the offence," Lee said.
When asked to explain why he thought P.E.I. has not yet seen outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term care homes, Lee point to P.E.I.’s Chief Public Health Office’s more aggressive approach to public health restrictions in general.
“We've had a Chief Public Health Office and a government that has worked very hard to keep the virus off of P.E.I.,” Lee said.
“We've benefited by having a very low incident rate here in P.E.I. That's translated into keeping seniors safer."
Lee added he expected public health restrictions, including the requirement of staff to wear masks and restrictions on staff working in multiple long-term care facilities, to remain in place in the months ahead.
The roll-out of the vaccine in other long-term and community care facilities is expected to continue this week.
