PHOTOS: Take A Look Inside The New Devonshire Mall Vaccination Centre

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Windsor’s newest COVID-19 vaccination centre will be opening this Monday at Devonshire Mall. Here’s a look inside the operation and what you can expect.

Karen Riddell, Windsor Regional Hospital’s Chief Operating Officer, brought local media on a tour of the centre which is located inside the former Sears store.

“What we’ll be able to do in this location is really consolidate vaccination across Windsor Essex county,” she said. “We’re starting with the closure of the Windsor Hall location at Pitt and Ferry — that will be closing at the end of the day today, and we’ll be reopening here on Monday.”

Riddell says the St. Clair SportPlex will be closing on July 21st, but other vaccination locations will remain open at this time.

“We’ll be able to do up to 4,000 vaccines per day within an eight hour period,” Riddell said of the new location. “In this particular centre we have 128 vaccination spots and 250 observation spots.”

“So we can essentially vaccinate 128 people every fifteen minutes versus 100 people every half hour at [the SportsPlex].”

Riddell says the hospital has the ability to add more spots if demand is needed. She says the location is ideal, located on a bus route and centrally located.

“There’s great, easy, free parking and it’s very accessible to the population,” she said.

She says the other two floors of the former Sears store will be used for storage and break rooms, but vaccinations will be done on the main floor.

In terms of the look and feel of the facility, Riddell says the hospital wanted to make people feel better about getting back to normal by brightening up the site.

“It was very stark, white, drab, the lighting was very poor in here,” she said of the former Sears location. “What we really wanted to do was make this somewhere that was very pleasant to come to and really get that sense of celebrating where we’re at in Windsor Essex right now.”

“When we were looking at ‘what did we need to do to brighten up this spot’, we really thought, ‘it’s summertime, it’s beautiful in Windsor Essex County this time of year, let’s really make this a pleasant spot for people to come to, and they can celebrate getting their vaccine.'”

The vaccination centre opens Monday.  Find out if you’re eligible to book a vaccine appointment at WEVax.ca.

Guests will first check in at an area near the entrance, and will then move onto the registration area.

A look at the various kiosks inside the registration area

Karen Riddell, Windsor Regional’s Chief Nursing Executive and Chief Operating Officer poses inside the vaccination area.

Riddell says the vaccination area is colour coded with wayfinding signage to allow staff to direct patients to different areas. After your vaccination, you’ll make your way to the corresponding coloured area in the observation section.

After you’ve waited in the observation area, you’ll be able to take a photo at the selfie station.