Ever since Innisfil resident, Donna Dyke was able to book her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine last spring, she has been helping others do the same.
Oftentimes, people have trouble finding time slots to book shots on the provincial portal, especially right now with boosters in high demand.
Dyke helps not only local residents but people from all over the Greater Toronto Area, and beyond.
"I just love doing it," said Dyke. "I have nothing else to do and I know it's hard to navigate (the online booking system)."
She says once you are familiar with navigating the Ontario online booking system, it's an "excellent program".
"I think it's very good," she said but noted there are many communities who have their own booking systems like York Region and Toronto, which she also has had to figure out how to use for people.
"It was like a big giant puzzle," she said.
Earlier this week she helped a Markham man who doesn't drive secure an appointment at a nearby drugstore for early January.
"I put him on a waitlist for six or eight drugstores," she noted.
Dyke says the man heard of Dyke through word-of-mouth, through one of the hundreds of individuals she has helped over the past year.
"I'm the vaccine hunter," she laughed. "It gave me such joy that I was able to help somebody."
Another recent "project" that Dyke worked on involved helping a Durham region nurse working in a senior home find her proof of vaccine, after the clinic, she got it at, never entered it in the system.
"Her nursing home was asking for proof of vaccine, but it wasn't showing up in the system," she explained. "This person (the nurse) works full time and they don't have time to do this."
Dyke spent 12 days helping track down the nurse's jab information, calling hospitals and clinics across town trying to track down the vaccine record.
"I spent hours and hours every day phoning and trying to get someone to help me. They were all willing to help but no one really could," she said.
Dyke's investigative skills eventually led her to find the record of the dosage at the Oshawa hospital.
"They said they found it and it wasn't inputted into the system," said Dyke. "They got it into the system and she got her proof."
Dyke is in her 60s, retired and says she enjoys helping people in her spare time (when she's not watching her grandkids).
She noted she isn't as busy booking boosters, due to a large number of pop-in clinics happening across the province. So far she has helped about 15 individuals book a booster shot.
"I look at how many people want to get it and I am proud that our Canadians are doing the proper thing, it's making me feel good seeing how many people are trying to get that third booster," she said.
Mayor Lynn Dollin gave a special shoutout to Dyke on Facebook earlier this week, thanking her for her dedication to helping others.
"Innisfil is full of generous people always happy to lend a hand, and this is just another great example of that," she wrote. "Thanks, Donna!"
