UNSUNG HEROES ARE THE ANGELS OF THE OUTBACK
The complicated task of vaccinating people in remote and far-flung regions is being carried out by a dedicated team of overworked rural GPS, the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the army.
RURAL GPS
Without the mass vaccination clinics available in cities, rural towns rely on already overworked GPS to deliver Covid jabs, and most are doing it after hours and on weekends.
Rural Doctors Association CEO Peta Rutherford said GP’S received a regular supply of vaccines and relied on booked appointments to get the job done. “When they’ve had cancellations or extra vacancies, a lot of the practices have made a real effort to ring around town and make sure those doses aren’t wasted,” Ms Rutherford said.
Pfizer doses were not initially sent to the bush because of strict refrigeration
requirements (now eased), and during the Delta outbreak in Sydney vaccines slated for the regions were clawed back to vaccinate people in the city.
As a result, in most rural areas only about two-thirds of residents have had a first dose of the vaccine compared to 70-80 per cent of people in most Sydney LGAS.
“Patients have that relationship with their GP, so if they had questions they’re talking to someone that
they’ve known for a long time, who has a level of standing in the community and have been able to have their questions answered,” she said.
ROYAL FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE
The RFDS is the backbone of the health system in remote communities around the country and to date has delivered more than 25,000 Covid-19 vaccinations in outback regions.
Nearly half (45 per cent) of these vaccines have been given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The service has also transported 15,000 vaccines to local health services in the bush which are running their own vaccination programs.
There are a further 600 RFDS vaccination clinic days scheduled between September and December 2021 in 152 different remote communities.
The service has also
transported 3335 patients suspected of having Covid to tertiary care and conducted 191 respiratory clinics in remote areas, seeing 472 patients.
In Queensland, the service ran sausage sizzles in advance of Covid-19 vaccination clinics, to answer any questions.
In NSW, when a vaccine clinic received only seven bookings in a small township, clinicians went to the pub to talk to locals. The next day more than 70 people showed
up for a jab. And when Wilcannia became a hotspot without overnight senior medical support at the hospital, a senior RFDS emergency doctor stayed for days in the town in case any community members developed severe symptoms and required ICU care.
DEFENCE FORCE
More than 24,000 vaccines have been administered by the Australian Defence Force in
rural NSW as the state has continued to grapple with the Delta outbreak.
Defence has conducted operations in Warren, Bourke, Dubbo, Parkes, Narromine, Brewarrina, Trangie, Peak Hill, Forbes, Grawin, Nyngan, Gulgong, Mudgee, Lightning Ridge, Grenfell, Canowindra, Trundle, Dunedoo, Eugowra, Collarenebri, Condobolin, Rylstone, Cowra, Walgett, Orange, Cobar, Kandos, Bathurst and Coolah.