On the virus front line
Within four hours of getting to Matamata – the site of an emerging coronavirus cluster – Debra Larsen and her team were welcoming the first car into the testing centre.
Since the coronavirus outbreak began, normal work days have been turned upside down for Larsen, a registered nurse. ‘‘It was a real whirlwind.’’
She has barely seen her two teenage daughters – though they have been leaving her ‘‘beautiful notes’’, saying they love her and are proud of her.
‘‘That’s nice when you don’t see them at night, and you wake up in the morning and the note’s there.’’
The girls wanted to come to work with her – unsurprisingly, she turned them down.
Stuff is celebrating the coronavirus champions – including essential services workers such as Larsen and community volunteers – who are keeping New Zealand going through the lockdown.
Larsen, who usually manages the Waikato District Health Board’s community and southern rural hospital services, has been heavily involved in setting up testing centres in Waikato.
She has done everything from reassuring someone whose car battery ran flat while in line, to making traffic plans and talking to police or civil defence.
In full protective gear, she’s also headed into the testing centres. ‘‘While I haven’t been in there swabbing, I’ve sort of been trying to make things run smoothly from the sidelines.
‘‘It’s been difficult to turn off your mind. You’re always thinking about the next thing.’’
It started when her manager told her Tokoroa needed a community-based assessment centre on the hospital grounds.
‘‘It kind of feels a bit blurry now as to when it all started because there have been really long days,’’ she said.
It was a kind of ‘go and make it happen, Debra’, situation, though she said she couldn’t have done it without the people and connections around her.
Finding the right spot for the centre wasn’t as easy as setting up a tent. She had to work out how to keep it detached from the hospital, how patients would flow through, where all the personal protective equipment would go, and how to get and record all the information they needed.
On the day Tokoroa’s centre opened, there was nervous anticipation – and rain. But the day was a success. ‘‘Certainly, what I saw, people seemed really thankful to be able to talk to somebody and for somebody to be able to give them some health advice and education.’’
Then came centres in Taumarunui, and Te Ku¯ iti, and she was at the Huntly one the day it opened.
‘‘By the time we got to having to put one up in Matamata, we literally did it in four hours.
‘‘I’ve felt really humbled by the strength of the relationships that we have with each other in such an extreme time.’’
A month ago, she couldn’t have imagined she’d be doing what she is now. ‘‘Oh gosh, it feels like such a long time ago I did my normal job.’’