The mayor of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, resumed her former role as a nurse for a few hours in order to vaccinate citizens against COVID-19 in a “pop-up” clinic set up in the Saint-Raymond community center on Tuesday.
The first patient to reach out to the mayor was her colleague and councilor Peter McQueen, who had come to pick up his third dose. “The mayoress did it well, but she seemed more nervous than me. I understand. Even if she has done it often in her life, she had not done it recently, ”commented the elected official, who encouraged his fellow citizens to be vaccinated.
Gracia Kasoki Katahwa seemed thrilled to step back into the nurse role she knows so well. Of Congolese origin, the chosen one practiced nursing at the Jewish General Hospital, in addition to holding management positions in the health network and sitting on the board of directors of the Ordre des nurses of Quebec (OIIQ). Elected on November 7 as mayor of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, she completely changed her world by jumping into the political arena.
She still sees similarities between the work of a nurse and her new duties as mayor. These two professions require listening, empathy and an ability to find solutions, she argued. “We have always bet, in the nursing profession, that nurses had the political skills to have this type of position and I see it,” explained the elected official who had to undergo training to do vaccination.
Gracia Kasoki Katahwa lent a hand to the vaccinators of the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal who, over the next few weeks, will travel to several neighborhoods in the territory to facilitate access to vaccines. Pop-up vaccination clinics, such as the one at the Saint-Raymond community center which was only open for one day, will be available in the coming weeks. On February 4, a clinic will temporarily set up at the Center William-Hingston. The vaccinators will also go to a synagogue in Mile-End this week.
“We want to be close to the population, to make sure that we reach people where they are,” explained Lucie Tremblay, Director of Nursing and Vaccination at the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’Île- from Montreal. “There are still pockets of people who have not yet had their vaccine, who are waiting for the second or third [dose]. »
According to data published by the Direction de la santé publique de Montréal, the proportion of “adequately vaccinated” people in Montreal is 83% (87% among people aged 5 and over). In the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, this rate reaches 76.6%.