Location
Throughout British Columbia
Guests
175,000+ (vaccines administered)
Client Sector
Community Health
Awards
ADMEI Global Achievement Best Community Support
Objective
PDS was originally contracted by the BC Ministry of Health (MoH) as a Community Partner providing support to Vancouver Coastal Health through non-clinical logistical services at Lower Mainland immunization clinics. As the MoH’s immunization plan evolved and clinic locations increased, our role expanded to other areas of our province under different regional Health Authorities, adding an entirely new dimension to our logistical support.
Challenges
- This public-facing opportunity was out of our traditional services scope and presented new considerations, especially in terms of safety.
- With no project blueprint, we navigated new partners and stakeholders, a fluid operating environment and ever-changing safety information over the duration.
- An extremely short timeframe to plan, secure resources, recruit, train and mobilize teams, coupled with constant re-planning due to the fast-moving nature of the project, rapidly changing information and circumstances.
- Project duration and locations expanded from 3 months in 1 provincial health region to over 12 months across 3 regions of urban, rural and remote communities.
- Political and private sector optics and parameters had to be considered alongside the requirement to manage safety, risk, and fear.
- Understanding logistics, geography, and the community nuances of multiple regions to offer thoughtful and respectful recommendations.
Strategy
- Hire over 200 hospitality, event and production professionals who had been out of work since the pandemic started, for logistical and registration services.
- Modify public and private facilities, tents and trailers into efficient, sterile and comfortable vaccine clinics for semi-permanent and pop-up locations.
- Revamp Northern Health’s mobile vaccination program to include 5 mobile teams and three smaller vehicles, allowing us to reach rural communities, remote worksites and Indigenous communities.
- Treat each guest with kindness, patience and compassion to help calm any fears or hesitation that might exist.
- Embrace a continuous improvement mindset. Evaluating and tweaking the delivery of the project while it was operating became an important part of our strategy.
Award Winning Results
We used our skill set in new and unique ways, proving that sound logistics and critical thinking are very transferable skills. PDS is very proud of our team’s willingness to take a risk, to sign on to produce something completely new and the tenacity it took to stick with it for the duration.
For those living in rural communities, our mobile clinics gave them easier vaccine access. By reducing transportation, logistical and financial barriers, people could stay in their own communities.
The smaller clinics were less busy, allowing for more physical distancing space and gave our team the ability to provide personal support to the public.
We built new community partnerships with provincial health workers and deepened our connections with our industry partners. Even during discouraging times, it was magical to pull together, help each other out and together achieve something greater than our individual contributions.
