It’s a case of one indigenous group looking after their own, as well as helping residents of an Alberta border town..When members of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana realized most of them had received their COVID-19 vaccinations, they decided to help their cousins north of the 49th parallel, who were still waiting for theirs..James McNeely, the public information officer with the Blackfeet Tribe in Browning, Mont., said because they had a surplus, they decided to contact Canadian officials to offer vaccines to Alberta band members..“We started having some discussion about that about a month ago. We threw this together in the last seven, eight days and it really fell together,” McNeely told Global..The Montana band contacted officials with Health Canada, provincial and state representatives and leaders of the Alberta Blackfoot First Nations to get the deal done..They decided the best thing to do would be to set up a drive-thru vaccination clinic on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Carway border crossing..Canadian Blackfeet members aged 16 and older drove up to the Carway crossing, handed over their passport or status card, crossed the border, got jabbed with either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine and returned home..McNeely said there were approximately 750 total doses available..On Wednesday, there was enough vaccine left to offer the excess vaccines to people in nearby Cardston.. Screen-Shot-2021-04-22-at-11.19.17-AMPosting on Town of Cardston Facebook page .In an e-mail to Global, Bonnie Healy, the health director for the Blackfoot Confederacy, said the mobile clinic was a “great success,” and no one who attended was turned away..“We pulled the medicine line clinic together fairly quickly and worked with Indigenous Services Canada; Health Canada; Public Health Agency of Canada; Canadian Border Services; USA Border; and the Blackfoot Confederacy, Amskapi Piikani; Siksika, Piikani and Kainai,” the e-mail read..Gayla Woolf Holt was thrilled to be able to be vaccinated..“Got my second shot. Would have had to wait until June in Alberta. So grateful. Blackfeet Nation does cross-border vaccinations in southern Albertaâ£ï¸ . Blackfeet Nation does cross-border vaccinations in southern Albertaâ£ï¸ . Blackfeet Nation does cross-border vaccinations in southern Albertað .Such a wonderful group of American medical people at the border —and so organized. Big thanks for their generosity,” she wrote on the town Facebook page..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
It’s a case of one indigenous group looking after their own, as well as helping residents of an Alberta border town..When members of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana realized most of them had received their COVID-19 vaccinations, they decided to help their cousins north of the 49th parallel, who were still waiting for theirs..James McNeely, the public information officer with the Blackfeet Tribe in Browning, Mont., said because they had a surplus, they decided to contact Canadian officials to offer vaccines to Alberta band members..“We started having some discussion about that about a month ago. We threw this together in the last seven, eight days and it really fell together,” McNeely told Global..The Montana band contacted officials with Health Canada, provincial and state representatives and leaders of the Alberta Blackfoot First Nations to get the deal done..They decided the best thing to do would be to set up a drive-thru vaccination clinic on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Carway border crossing..Canadian Blackfeet members aged 16 and older drove up to the Carway crossing, handed over their passport or status card, crossed the border, got jabbed with either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine and returned home..McNeely said there were approximately 750 total doses available..On Wednesday, there was enough vaccine left to offer the excess vaccines to people in nearby Cardston.. Screen-Shot-2021-04-22-at-11.19.17-AMPosting on Town of Cardston Facebook page .In an e-mail to Global, Bonnie Healy, the health director for the Blackfoot Confederacy, said the mobile clinic was a “great success,” and no one who attended was turned away..“We pulled the medicine line clinic together fairly quickly and worked with Indigenous Services Canada; Health Canada; Public Health Agency of Canada; Canadian Border Services; USA Border; and the Blackfoot Confederacy, Amskapi Piikani; Siksika, Piikani and Kainai,” the e-mail read..Gayla Woolf Holt was thrilled to be able to be vaccinated..“Got my second shot. Would have had to wait until June in Alberta. So grateful. Blackfeet Nation does cross-border vaccinations in southern Albertaâ£ï¸ . Blackfeet Nation does cross-border vaccinations in southern Albertaâ£ï¸ . Blackfeet Nation does cross-border vaccinations in southern Albertað .Such a wonderful group of American medical people at the border —and so organized. Big thanks for their generosity,” she wrote on the town Facebook page..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
