Sask. nurse feels 'very proud' and 'very privileged' to give parents their COVID-19 vaccines

A registered nurse in Maple Creek, Sask., says she's feeling equal parts proud and grateful after being the one to vaccinate her parents against the coronavirus.

Lynette Brown has been working at the town's pop-up COVID-19 immunization clinic since February. 

When her parents, Tom and Marianna Eremenko, booked in to get their Moderna shots on March 17, they knew she was working that day, so they took their chances and asked if their daughter was available.

And as fate would have it, she was.

"You always strive to give a really good needle so you don't cause any pain — and I wanted to have a little bragging rights, too," Brown joked. "So there was just a little bit of pressure; I didn't want to hurt them."

"I kind of felt a pinch a little bit, but otherwise, it was all right," said Tom, 82.

"She did good — I never felt it at all," added Marianna, 72. "We're quite proud of her."

Now that she's fully vaccinated and her parents are halfway there, Brown noted it offers a sense of relief.

"I was excited to be able to give them some protection against [COVID-19]," she said. "I was very proud and I felt very privileged to be able to do that for them."

'First step of getting back to some kind of normal'

Tom said one of the best parts about getting his jab was being able to see his daughter in person after months of being apart.

"We don't see her that much, so it was nice to be able to see her and to have her give us our shots," he said. 

"We haven't seen much of our family, we're trying to isolate," Marianna added. "Now, if we can get our second shot — and everybody else gets their shots — then maybe things will get back to normal."

Brown agreed, noting that giving her parents their vaccines was one of the few times she's seen them — along with the rest of her extended family — since June of last year, when they safely held a graduation barbecue for her son.

"[Getting immunized] is the first step of getting back to some kind of normal," she said. "Whether normal is not going to be 100 per cent what it was before, we'll be able to get back together again."