Public Health nurse Millie Cook prepares Trudy Aldred for her COVID-19 vaccination
Trudy Aldred believes a lifetime of no smoking, no drinking, and a good husband will help her reach the 99th birthday she marks in June, and she won't let a rogue virus get in the way.
“I'm not allowing all that good work to go to waste and that's why I'm having the COVID-19 vaccine,” she says. “It's just a little prick.”
Mrs Aldred lives at Te Wiremu House Lifecare and Village, which last week hosted a team of Covid-19 vaccinators from Hauora Tairāwhiti.
According to Te Wiremu clinical manager Melissa Mulligan, Mrs Aldred was not alone in her enthusiasm, with 90 percent of the facility's residents consenting to the vaccine. “We gave them all the available information and talked them through it and most were keen to get on board,” Mrs Mulligan says.
“Our older people tend to be very practical . . . they know they are vulnerable and realise the potential consequences of getting the virus. They're also mindful that others around the world have not been as lucky as we have and want to be part of providing a solution.”
Te Wiremu House Lifecare and Village resident Sue Cooper agrees. She has seen a lot in her 82 years – her mum died when she was just a year old and she was raised in Gisborne by Sir Henare and Lady Lorna Ngata.
In her time she's had a few vaccinations. “I remember how painful they could be in the old days but not this one, this one was okay,” she says. “I wasn't worried about a thing.”
Hauora Tairāwhiti public health nurse Millie Cook has stepped up as both vaccinator and site co-ordinator for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out teams in the region and, like her, many of her colleagues, is doing the work on top of her usual jobs.
Of the four-strong team that visited Te Wiremu, Sarah Garrett works as a clinical nurse specialist; Roimata Brown is a public health nurse; and in addition to her work at a GP practice, Mandy Hayward is an EIT nursing programme tutor.
“In one sense, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a huge event and it feels important to be a part of the response to that,” Mrs Cook says.“ But at the end of the day it is just helping people and, in any circumstances, that is why we do what we do.”
The team's visit to Te Wiremu was part of Hauora Tairāwhiti’s schedule of offering vaccinations to people in Group Two of the national roll-out which, in Tairawhiti, covers healthcare or disability workers; those working in long-term residential environments or living in long-term care; and older Māori or Pacific persons being cared for by whānau.
Vaccination is repeated three weeks later when the second of two doses is required. The prospect of that
booster raised no concerns for Te Wiremu residents, who all received their vaccines with barely a blink.