Stronger Together: April Mullen

London, Ont. -

In December of 2020, the London Health Sciences Centre and Middlesex-London Health Unit launched one of Ontario’s first COVID-19 vaccination clinics.

At the head of this project, serving as director of the Western Fair District Agriplex vaccination clinic, was April Mullen.

“Opening a vaccination centre was the light at the end of the tunnel. It signified hope, and it was very renewing for myself and the people that I worked with, we all had high energy around this, as we knew it was going to change the tide,” she says.

Mullen moved from her role as the southwest regional director of the Renal Program to head up the team at the Agriplex, and had the vaccination clinic up and running in under a week.

Her colleague Karen Goldrick, who was also a manager with the Agriplex vaccination program, says they started with a small group of 125 vaccinators, and before they finished their work they we were able to vaccinate 3,000 people in one day.

It was all hands on deck, as health care professionals on the front lines tried to manage a changing environment.

Mullen and her team were able to navigate eligibility, vaccine shortages, staffing requirements and ever-changing criteria. This included developing a special program to accommodate in-car vaccinations for people with special needs in conjunction with Autism Ontario.

Mullen created a navigator role for seniors -- to help them book appointments -- and had a key role in developing culturally-aware vaccination services for Indigenous patients in partnership with the Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Network.

She also answered the call from the Yukon government and went on a temporary work placement where she helped to roll out rapid point-of-care testing to three hospitals and 12 remote nursing stations.