(L-R) Johanna Chang and Shaylyn Salisbury aboard a Nanaimo Port Authority Vessel en-route to vaccinating international cargo ship passengers. (Submitted photo)

By Ian Holmes

uncharted waters

Nanaimo nurses hop aboard international cargo ships to vaccinate passengers

Dec 7, 2021 | 5:31 AM

NANAIMO — Life of a nurse is anything but normal, just ask a pair of Nanaimo health professionals handed a unique task.

Shaylyn Salisbury and Johanna Chang are among a small team of Public Health nurses boarding cargo vessels anchored off Nanaimo to immunize gracious crew members with the COVID-19 vaccine.

An estimated 100 people aboard five ships have so far been vaccinated during the unconventional mobile clinics in Nanaimo’s harbour since early November.

“Let’s get them registered, put your clinic in a backpack, grab your cooler and away you go,” Sallisbury told NanaimoNewsNOW.

She said all of the ships they’ve served so far are international clientele waiting to unload their shipments.

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Island Health stated vaccinating cargo ship staff is an initiative happening along the West Coast to assist in the movement of goods.

Island Health nurses have been boarding cargo ships off the coast of Nanaimo, vaccinating the waiting crew against COVID-19. (submitted photo)

Salisbury said all of the cargo ship staff expressed their gratitude to get immunized against COVID-19.

“That is what keeps us going everyday through the thick of it. Even when we don’t have good days, it’s those days where people are just so excited and so happy to get it that makes it worth everything we go through.”

Vaccinating people outside regularly functioning clinics is by no means unchartered waters for Salisbury, who was involved in mobile clinics on Gabriola and Protection Islands.

However, she couldn’t have forseen Nanaimo Port Authority personnel escorting their team to ships to vaccinate cargo passengers.

It appears numerous more boat trips across Nanaimo’s harbour lie ahead.

“We’ve been told ships come every 10 to 15 days, I think as long as there’s people there who need vaccines we’ll be doing it,” Salisbury said.

Chang, a fellow Registered Nurse and team lead in the mass immunization program, said she had no idea the cargo ship vaccination strategy would happen this way.

“I thought I was going down to the cruise ship dock and doing a ship at dock and next thing I know I’m boarding a container ship in the middle of a storm,” Chang said with a laugh.

Chang said it’s satisfying assisting people who likely don’t have the same access to the vaccine that Canadians do.

“We’re getting things done and I know it’s a drop in the bucket in the global pandemic, but everyday it feels like we are making a little bit of a difference.”

Island Health nurses have taken their vaccination kits to the high seas, boarding international cargo ships to innoculate the crew against COVID-19. (submitted photo)

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes