When UNE Life director David Schmude found 76-year-old Audrey* crying after receiving her first COVID vaccination at the Inverell walk-in clinic last month he became concerned. He’d met her earlier, wrapped in two scarves, she said, to ward off the threat of the virus.
“But she was crying because she was so happy,” David says. “She told me she lived alone, didn’t have a regular GP, and hadn’t left her home for nine weeks. She was just so relieved to get her first shot.”
It’s been a similar story at mass vaccination clinics throughout the New England and North West in recent weeks, where UNE has played a pivotal role in the roll-out of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines. So far, just over 3000 have been administered - 82% of which have been first doses. To date, this represents 27% (of either the first or second doses) of vaccinations in the region.
When the Armidale local government area went into lockdown, UNE swung swiftly into action, bringing together a team that has included local GPs, Hunter New England Health, the Primary Health Network, police, St John’s Ambulance Service, local councils, state politicians and Aboriginal health services. Within four days, the first walk-in mass vaccination clinic had been mobilised – in Armidale – and 556 people were vaccinated in just one day. Staffed by UNE Medical Centre nurses and GPs, plus an extensive logistics crew drawn from UNE Life ranks, it proved such a success that it has since toured Moree, Inverell, Tamworth and Glen Innes.
“It has been an incredible team effort, drawing on community resources and goodwill,” David says. “Everyone has got behind it, to show what’s capable when communities work together.”
At the same time that the UNE Medical Centre was needing to power up to meet demand, other parts of UNE Life – namely Sport UNE, food and beverage, and the Belgrave Cinema – closed their doors in the lockdown. This left almost 30 UNE Life staff free to take on the logistics of setting up and operating the mobile clinics.
“During one clinic, my food and beverage manager was responsible for logistics and my head barista was one of our head data inputters, taking as much pride in maintaining people's data as he does making a coffee,” David says. “All staff have adapted their skills to turn this around in record time and still give every person individual care and support. We have even had the Vice-Chancellor Professor Brigid Heywood helping patients to fill in their forms a number of times at our clinics across the region.
“The days have been long, but I think it’s the perfect role for a rural and regional university to play in its community; to deploy our staff and students and resources to help others in a time of need. We’ve got the model right.”
Most importantly, the clinics have helped remove barriers to residents being vaccinated, and proven an effective promotional tool. “The more people we vaccinate, the more news spreads of how easy vaccination is,” David says.
Last week UNE also supported a dedicated Armajun Aboriginal Health Service clinic for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and future clinics are scheduled for more isolated Indigenous communities across the wider region. At the Costa Group’s large Guyra glasshouse facility, two rounds of doses have also been administered to seasonal workers.
“People have been so thankful to be vaccinated and I feel extremely proud that our wonderful team has been able to make it happen,” David says. “It’s helping to save lives and that’s a wonderful thing for UNE to be a part of.”
*Not her real name.
