Staff deployed to support far west NSW communities
NSLHD staff have been deployed to far-west NSWto support communities responding to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Wenche Kvernelandwith SES volunteer Iris Smith
Staff fromacross the district put up their hand to travel to Broken Hill, Dubbo andWilcannia to help colleagues in FarWest Local Health District in any way they could. Director of Aboriginal Health Peter Shine andRegisteredNurse Barbara Triantafilis travelled to BrokenHill in September. Peter was trained up toworkwith the local public health unit, while Barbara worked at a vaccination hub. Peter said being on the ground, working with the public health unit and going into COVID-19 hot spot areas was a huge learning experience, but hewas surrounded by a fabulous team. “A lot of themobwere not getting vaccinated or presenting for COVID-19 testing and they are reluctant to do so unless they see the danger to them directly is imminent,” he said. “Together with staff on the ground, we wereworking on away to try and get all rates up – both COVID-19 testing and COVID-19 vaccination.” Royal North Shore Hospital Intensive Care Unit nursesMikaela Hedge and Emma Cardwell wereworking at Dubbo Base Hospital’s ICU. The unit has capacity for five ventilated patients but whenMikaela and Emma arrived therewere already five ventilated patients. “The ICUwas already prettymuch pushing the boundaries and struggling tomanage,”Mikaela said. “Wewent straight on the roster and became part of the team– everyone was very appreciative of us being there.” At one point, Mikaela –who has six years’ experienceworking in the ICU – realised shewas themost senior person on the floor.
“And I had only been in the hospital for 10 days,” she said. “At regional hospitals there’s not the same resources you have at amajor metro hospital, but it was really impressive to see howeveryonewanted to help out wherever they could. “There were lots of young and enthusiastic nurses who put up their hand to help. “So the teamused Emma and I to help educatemore junior staffwho didn’t have experienceworking in intensive care and to train up theatre staff, so whenwe left it wouldn’t leave a big gap. “Hopefully we’ve helped those nurses train for the future.” Emma said it was an easy decision to put her hand up to go to Dubbo, but couldn’t have done so without the support from her team at RNSH. “While I work at RNSH, we are all part of the NSW Health system, and our colleagues were asking for help,” she said. “Mikaela and I work with a great team who worked incredibly hard to enable two staff members to be freed up to assist our colleagues in Dubbo. “To me this was not about two nurses going to Dubbo, it was an entire department looking at what they could do to provide support to Western NSW in a time of need.” Hornsby Hospital Critical Care Nurse Consultant Wenche Kverneland travelled to Wilcannia. Wenche helpedwith setting up community supported accommodation for close contacts to self-isolate safely if they couldn’t do so at home.
Peter Shine and Barbara Triantafilis were based in Broken Hill
Emma Cardwell and Mikaela Hedge in Dubbo
are self-isolating in the community supported accommodation,” Wenche said. “Together with other NSWHealth staff, we areworkingwith the SES and RFS to assist with the operations by providing logistical support. “It’s really nice to be able to help in someway and the people are so lovely.” Chief Executive DebWillcox said she was very proud of staff for putting themselves forward to help out. “This is a very difficult time for these communities and being able to contribute is a very important and probably life-changing experience for our staff,” she said. “Thank you to all our staffwho have kindly agreed towork outside of your roles, away fromyour workplace and colleagues – and in some cases your families and loved ones – and assist in our whole-of-health system response.”
“I providewellbeing checks and COVID-19 swabs for thosewho
WWW.NSLHD.HEALTH.NSW.GOV.AU 31
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online