Saskatoon vaccine docs giving kids an extra thanks, and extra stickers

Kids in Saskatoon who get their COVID-19 vaccines are getting a little superhero help, courtesy of local doctors.

Doctors in the area have come together to create new stickers, colouring pages, posters and Band-Aids just for the kids. The stickers read “I’m a hero fighting against COVID-19.”

Dr. Satchan Takaya and her 10-year-old niece came up with the idea along with Dr. Ayisha Kurji and her 11-year-old daughter. Together, they landed on a bunny.

“The thought being a bunny would be appealing to most kids, and the bunny should be a superhero,” Takaya, the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s pandemic chief of staff for Saskatoon, said with a laugh.

Takaya’s sister, Alissa Staples, is an illustrator in B.C.

“She created this for us and put it in a sticker and here we go, we’ve got a special one just for the kids in Saskatoon,” said Takaya.

The doctor explained they wanted something just for the kids.

“It has been a very long pandemic and as (the vaccines) rolled down younger and younger in age, we kind of realized that the green stickers — as symbolic as they are — aren’t super fancy, so we wanted something a little more special,” said Takaya.

Takaya said the pandemic has been a big sacrifice for a lot of the kids, because they’ve had to isolate from school and miss birthday parties or other activities.

Once they had the idea, Takaya said she had a friend at a printing company who agreed to make them, and they reached out to other doctors to raise the money for it.

“Literally in 24 hours I was able to raise the funds for all of this,” Takaya said. “It was amazing, the amount of enthusiasm around it. It was really quite a nice feeling.”

Takaya said they were able to print stickers for the kids, colouring pages with the bunny, a huge poster of the colouring page for kids to sign, and Band-Aids too.

“So we have what we call the Band-Aid concierge at the front, so after you register you can pick your favourite character and then get that applied after you’ve gotten the shot,” said Takaya.

Takaya said the reaction of the kids getting the stickers has been amazing and they seem to really cherish the stickers. But, the biggest hit, according to Takaya, is the wall of fame at Prairieland Park.

The colouring page was blown up into a five-foot-tall poster and the kids get to sign it when they’re done.

The kids are also given a sticky note and they can write how they felt about the shot and why they got it. Takaya explained that kids are writing things like “COVID sucks” and “I was brave,” and that they got the shot so they could see Grandma or so they could play hockey.

Clinic administrative assistant Heather Hogg posing in front of one of the walls of sticky notes at Prairieland Park. (Saskatchewan Health Authority/Submitted)

Takaya said they have four walls full of sticky-notes now and it’s “incredibly inspiring.”

Prairieland Park is a bit of a party these days, with the clinic transformed to make kids more comfortable. Takaya said they’re still doing shots for adults, but there are giant balloons of Spiderman and Elsa from the movie Frozen.

There also are Disney movies streaming so the kids feel more at ease and to give them something to do for the 15 minutes they have to wait after getting the shot.

“Without that, it is just a clinic and we wanted to kind of take that away and make them feel a little bit more comfortable (and) add a little bit of joy,” said Takaya.

Takaya made a point of thanking the kids who are getting the shot and the parents for bringing the kids out, saying that getting kids vaccinated is how COVID will end, by ending transmission.

Kids aged five to 11 in Saskatchewan became eligible for the vaccine on Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Health, more than 4,300 children in that age group were vaccinated in the first two days.