Pandemic steers Zamboni driver to food delivery: 350 city staffers redeployed to Hamilton’s COVID response

When the pandemic struck, it looked like Amy Perusello's duties were on ice.

They always were. She's a Zamboni driver.

But coronavirus forced the city to close arenas - along with a host of other buildings - as residents came to grips with the emerging public health crisis circumventing the globe.

That meant Perusello's ice-resurfacing days at Chedoke Twin Pad Arena on the west Mountain hit a deep rut last March.

But after eight years of driving the Zamboni, taking care of the arena and attending to the needs of children, parents and coaches, she wasn't prepared to sit this one out.

I raised my hand," Perusello recalls nearly a year later. What can I do?"

So she got back in the driver's seat, but this time, of a Ford Escape.

Perusello delivered meals and food hampers to people who couldn't venture out.

Many were low-income seniors; some had limited mobility; others faced health issues that made them particularly vulnerable to the deadly virus.

Perusello, who has since returned to her arena duties, beams when she recalls how her physically distanced visits were received.

Oh my goodness, gratitude, such gratitude."

She was one of about 350 city staff who have been redeployed from normal duties to the pandemic response, which Hamilton's Emergency Operations Centre has directed.

Along with recreation workers like Perusello, they have included museum interpreters doing data entry, human resources staff overseeing personal protective equipment supplies or library employees helping with contact tracing.

It's a shift involving several departments that Coun. Tom Jackson is compelled to highlight publicly amid complaints about rising taxes.

The veteran east Mountain councillor says he hasn't heard an avalanche," but enough rumblings" from constituents suggesting city staff have taken it easy during the pandemic.

But that's not the case, Jackson says.

They have been working hard. They have been redeployed. Your local government is pumping out the work, even more so during this pandemic even though we have facilities that are closed."

Overall, not including police and public library workers, the city employs roughly 8,200 full- and part-time staffers. Roughly 1,000 part-time and casual employees went on unpaid emergency leave with job protection amid the pandemic.

Perusello was the eyes and ears on the street" for the city's vulnerable supports team set up last March, says Jocelyn Strutt, who continues to oversee the initiative.

If Perusello noticed other issues during her home deliveries - loneliness was a big factor - arrangements were made for followup with social-service agencies, Strutt notes.

Strutt, normally a project manager for the city's neighbourhood action strategy, worked with Kristy Tadeson, an early-years project manager in the children services division, to establish the vulnerable supports team.

Essentially, we were charged with coming up with something to help support our public health colleagues, and how to reach out effectively to those who are vulnerable in the community," Strutt said.

During its initial deployment, the team had 16 members, but now has seven. Between April and December, it helped 4,100 vulnerable or self-isolating people with food hampers, personal protective equipment or drove people to COVID-19 testing centres, the city says.

Tadeson, who was on the team from March to September, finds the way departments have coalesced around the pandemic response impressive.

There's lots of great work happening behind the scenes and I'm really proud of how we've come together to support the community."

Out of nearly 400 regular full-time-equivalent (FTE) public health positions, roughly 217 are focused on the pandemic, along with 89 additional FTEs specifically hired for the effort.

Expect another 300 city workers - in addition to public health's complement - to shift efforts to the massive vaccination effort in coming days, says Paul Johnson, who leads the Emergency Operations Centre.

Some of that nonclinical support, such as screeners at vaccine clinics, will come through temporary new hires.

We want the clinical people - the people who can actually administer the vaccine - to be focused solely on making sure they get needles into arms."

The Ontario government has told the city it will cover the cost of the vaccination effort that also involves local hospitals.

Johnson says the toll of the pandemic for many city workers across departments has caught up to them.

They have been at this flat-out since the whole thing began. It's a long haul."

But the prospect of the vaccination effort blows a little bit of wind in the sails" of staff as the pandemic continues, Johnson says.

Right now, we're still fighting fires while we try and get ourselves out of it."

Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com