workforce
Physiotherapist Nerissa Grebert receives Westmead Vaccination Clinic ’ s 50k jab from RN Puspadevi Paudel . Photo : NSW Health
“ I have a beautiful team and I ’ m proud to say that .
On the front line
What it ’ s like to work at the Westmead mass COVID-19 vaccine hub .
By Eleanor Campbell
When asked what keeps her going during 12-hour shifts at one of NSW ’ s major vaccine clinics , nurse unit manager Disha Balraj credits the camaraderie felt by everyone on her team . “ We have come a long way ,” she says . “ The processes that we have built , it takes years when you are running a department to be able to build those .
“ I have a beautiful team and I ’ m proud to say that .”
Disha has worked as a renal nurse in Westmead Hospital for 12 years . In February , she received a call to join one of the first vaccination hubs established in NSW .
The Westmead clinic was one of three major centres opened to vaccinate priority workers during the early stages of the rollout .
“ I can still remember that day when we had a team of our project members in one little room , starting from scratch ,” she says .
“ Setting up the clinic took a multidisciplinary approach , with input from basically every area that you could imagine . “ There was a lot of anxiety among staff and the public at the time .”
Operating seven days a week , the clinic administers Pfizer vaccines to thousands of people each day . As NSW confronts the rapid spread of the Delta variant , a substantial growth in numbers has the building reaching capacity on a regular basis .
“ There have been days when we have gone up to 1,800 as well and that is the constant increase in recent months ,” says Disha .
“ But people do need to realise that there have still been safe processes and safeguards , that things got approved appropriately and there is nothing to be scared of .”
As fear , worry and anger builds amongst the public , incidents of verbal abuse and physical threats of violence made against immuniser workers have been reported across the country .
Confusion over eligibility criteria and booking protocol are causing members of the public to lash out at staff , according to Disha .
“ We have got people coming in who are not booked in , or they are not within that age group ; people who are not eligible for Pfizer vaccine .
“ They come at the screening station and literally they fight with the screening people .”
As nurse unit manager , Disha oversees one-on-one discussions , group building sessions and end of shift debriefing meetings with her team . While the work is extremely rewarding , she says , the impact of facing public abuse has taken a toll on staff .
“ There have been days where I literally had to sit down and do deep breathing sessions with the staff .
“ Nobody comes to work to be yelled at , nobody comes to work to be told that basically you are useless people and you are just puppets of the government and you ’ re doing this and you ’ re not listening to the public .”
Bernadette Wykes , the clinic ’ s operations manager , said new staff have been hired to assist with long lines and iPads given to concierge staff to try and alleviate the stress at the hub .
“ We try to improve by having debrief lessons , and we ’ ve also got a yoga teacher on site ,” she said .
A registered nurse of 16 years , Bernadette worked with district nursing during the beginning of the pandemic to urgently recruit and replace healthcare workers who fell ill or had to isolate .
At the beginning of the year , she was recruited to oversee the opening of the clinic . Shifting from district nursing to operations manager of a first-of-its-kind of a mass vaccine hub , she says , has required a step into the unknown .
“ I think you need to be very trusting with little details and a lot of it is about thinking outside of the square .
“ A lot of what we had to create in the backend was really just on minimal information and a lot of imagination .” One of the biggest challenges facing immuniser staff is the constant cycle of updated information and regulations . Each week , adjustments made to priority groups , changing operational hours to include weekends and increases in capacity numbers have become the norm .
“ The ability to pivot really quickly initially was a challenge , but now I think the teams feel a great resilience around it ,” says Bernadette .
“ We plan ahead to always accept that things are going to change and that ’ s okay within the climate .
“ Our job is just to make everyone feel safe and make sure they ’ re vaccinated safely .” ■
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