The Côte Saint-Luc library has unveiled its latest resource to help residents ahead of the province’s COVID-19 vaccine passport plan, coming into effect Wednesday.
The town, which has the highest percentage of seniors in Quebec, is helping residents download their QR code.
“If you don’t have a friend, or a family who knows how to do it, we here at the library will help,” said Côte Saint-Luc mayor Mitchell Brownstein.
“We want everybody, particularly our seniors, to know how to get that code. They’re going to need it.”
To enter non-essential businesses, residents will need to show their QR code on a piece of paper or on the VaxiCode app on their phones. As soon as the government announced the digital initiative, library staff said they started receiving calls asking if they could help.
“We have an awful lot of seniors in Côte Saint-Luc and a lot of them don’t have access to technology,” said the library’s director, Janine West.
Library staff at the resource desk simply ask for a medicare card, and the date of the first vaccine. Clients also have to sign a waiver before allowing staff to help guide them through the governments website.
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In the end, West said staff can print out their QR code on a wallet-sized piece of paper or help them download it on the Quebec’s app.
CIUSS Ouest-de-l’Île is running a similar vaccine passport help program to help anyone who may run into technical difficulties. According to Vaccination Director Lucie Tremblay, “People can call 1-877-644-4545 and somebody will guide them through the process.”
If that doesn’t work there are two in-person service centres, located at the vaccination centres in Decarie Square and Park Extension. Appointments and walk-ins are accepted at both service centres.
Côte Saint-Luc resident Vera Cohen said she walked in at Decarie Square after calling the government’s website “very confusing.”
Seniors aren’t the only ones having tech problems at Decarie Square. Tremblay called the clientele “a mix.”
“Some people are less familiar with computers,” she said.
Tremblay said she expects a higher demand for the service this week as people scramble to download their QR code by Wednesday. She said the site will stay open as long as people need it.
Meanwhile in Côte Saint-Luc, Brownstein said they plan to train other staff to help the community navigate the new tool that will be required more and more on a daily basis.
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