GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS - Many members of the public who have visited one of the Western Cape Government’s vaccination sites may attest to the professional and friendly service they experienced on their vaccination days.
The West Coast District office of Western Cape Government Health is proud of its roving team who not only support fixed teams in the respective sub-districts of the West Coast, but also recently tended to the vaccination of educators in the District.
One of the West Coast Roving team’s member, Sr Hendriette Felix says that she has been inspired by the team’s ability to work together and their determination to provide an excellent service to the public.
“A typical day for us vaccinators usually starts at 07:30 when we arrive on site. We then check the stock of consumables and prepare our workstations for the day.” Sr Felix explains. Then follows the vaccines that needs to be drawn up into the injectors.
The team cannot draw op too much vaccines at a time, in order to prevent wastage. Once the members of the public arrive at 08:00 they are ready and start with the first clients.
During the day, the vaccinators also keep record of how much vaccines are being administered and make sure it corresponds with the re-ordering form for the next visit to the particular vaccination site.
For vaccination administrator, Tyran Paulsen, his day typically starts off with preparing vaccination cards and ensuring that connectivity to the EVDS network is sorted.
“We prepare our devices and material the day before in order to be well prepared. We always arrive early at the vaccination site to make sure we start on time and don’t keep anyone waiting.”
Because the West Coast have limited vaccinators and admin staff for vaccinations, most sub-districts have roving teams who visit certain towns on allocated days. They then set up vaccination stations in venues like community, town and church halls.
The West Coast District roving team also visits congregated settings including Old Age homes and recently took responsibility for vaccination of all the West Coast District’s educators. This meant that in a space of two weeks, they travelled to 5 different towns to vaccinate educators in each sub-district.
For Paulsen, power outages and connectivity ‘gremlins’ can be frustrating, but they have mastered the skill by now to handle these challenges as they come. “It can also become frustrating when my actual work in the MDR TB-program comes to a standstill because aside from our clients who receive vaccines, I am concerned about the wellbeing of our existing MDR-TB clients too.”
For Paulsen it creates added pressure, but the camaraderie and support within their team helps him to remain friendly and helpful to the vaccine clients, who often become nervous before getting their injections.
Sr Felix says that she appreciates the thankfulness they receive as a team from the people they vaccinate.
“One gentleman started howling like a dog when I administered his injection. He joked and said that the vaccine is bringing out the dog inside him.” For her these enthusiastic clients makes her day and the whole team appreciate some light-heartedness amidst the seriousness of the pandemic.
“Members of the public can rest assured that we as a team of vaccinators and other role players in Western Cape Government Health are doing everything we can to keep our communities safe and we are truly thankful for those who support us, regardless of the negativity we sometimes hear about the vaccines,“ Sr Felix says.
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