NEWS
Seafarer Ministries Connect Crews to Clinics, Support Seafarer centers across North America are liaising between ships and government clinics to provide seafarers with access to COVID-19 vaccines. “Some of the first seafarers we helped vaccinate in Montreal had huge smiles after it was done. They were so happy,” said Michelle DePooter-Francis, lead chaplain of Ministry to Seafarers (M2S) Montreal. DePooter-Francis was on the Canada Seafarers Welfare Board’s vaccination committee. Though it met weekly throughout the spring of 2021, the first opportunity to offer concrete help happened because crew members shared their personal experiences.
Seafaring crew members line up for a mobile vaccination clinic Aug. 24 in Montreal.. the head nurse of the clinic and from
have to bring the seafarers to our clinics,’”
the person from public health in charge
Roosma said. Without shore leave—or
of the Montreal vaccination campaign
with only a few hours in a port—a trip to a
giving us their support and formalizing
downtown clinic wasn’t feasible.
the process,” said DePooter-Francis. The clinic now offers mobile clinics at the port. As of early September, M2M had helped the crews of 33 ships to access vaccines— some of them for both of the two requisite shots, given several weeks apart.
Pastor Gary Roosma (in safety vest) visits with crew members aboard a ship in Vancouver during the summer of 2021. In early July some crew members were able to enter a Montreal walk-in clinic and receive shots without proof of residency. They told the Ministry to Seafarers, and M2S immediately alerted other ships about the opportunity and began transporting seafarers to and from the clinic. “After a couple of weeks of doing this unofficially, I received a call from NOVEMBER 2021
In a July 2020 story for The Banner, Depooter-Francis spoke of the mental toll isolation has on seafarers. That’s still a concern, Roosma said. This summer he was aboard a ship when a seafarer “had a complete mental breakdown,” he said.
What does it take to make this happen?
“We had to do intervention. He hadn’t
“A lot of communication!” said DePooter-
been off the ship in nine months and
Francis, including by email, phone apps,
hadn’t slept in three days.” He was finally
and in-person visits with agents, captains,
given shore leave, and Roosma kept in
and seafarers. It’s all coordinated by the
touch. “He’s back home and doing much
M2S staff, a small team of two chaplains,
better,” Roosma said. Roosma is moved
an administrator, volunteers, and interns.
Caring for Mental Well-being Christian Reformed pastor Gary Roosma, working with Ministry to Seafarers
by how seafarers describe their resolve. “The seafarers say, ‘I have to steel myself to be on board this ship and not get off for months.’ That’s hard.”
Vancouver, has shown care in Canada’s
‘Passing On God’s Love’
largest port by advocating for ship crews’
Port Alberni, B.C., is a logging port that
shore leave. Before the British Columbia
sees fewer ships as the industry declines.
government set up harbor clinics, crew
Matthew Gregory, a member of Alberni
members wanting to be vaccinated had to
Valley Christian Reformed Church and a
go further inland. “Initially it was just ‘You
volunteer with the Upper Room Seafarers’
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