A team of experienced nurses from the University of Newcastle is providing urgent assistance to vulnerable Indigenous communities following recent outbreaks of COVID-19.
The team led by Dean and Head of School of Nursing and Midwifery Professor Amanda Johnson landed in the small western NSW town of Walgett on Monday afternoon following desperate calls for help from the Walgett Aboriginal Medical Service (WAMS).
Professor Johnson is joined by Wiradjuri woman, Professor of Nursing and Head of the School’s Indigenous Portfolio Professor Rhonda Wilson and Associate Professor of Midwifery Donna Hartz, who is a descendent of the Kamilaroi people.
For the next week, the trio will support WAMS with COVID-19 vaccinations and testing.
The work comes off the back of an 18-month partnership between the university and WAMS.
The two organisations have been working towards a potential ‘On Country’ component to be added to the university’s Bachelor of Nursing to enable student nurses to learn and work in Walgett as part of their degree.
After seeing COVID-19 cases emerge in Walgett, Professor Rhonda Wilson said they reached out to their partners at WAMS to offer support.
“When this emergency came up, and we saw the urgent need to vaccinate the community, we asked if there was anything we could do to help,” Professor Wilson said.
“They asked us to come to Walgett ASAP and help vaccinate the community before the outbreak got any worse.
“The numbers have been escalating right across the state, and, in particular, western NSW has seen several spikes, which we were very concerned about.”
Professor Wilson said it was extremely worrying to have COVID-19 present in such a small country town, especially with a high population of Aboriginal people.
“We have had very low uptake of Aboriginal people with vaccinations to date. They are a vulnerable group and at a very high risk of COVID,” she said.
“A lot live in small close communities. Family is important to Aboriginal people, as well as community and country.
“A large COVID outbreak would be extremely devastating. Small country towns don’t have intensive care units or ventilation equipment. It’s also very difficult to transport people to major centres where there are ICUs and ventilator machines.
“This variant escalates extremely quickly. So when people become unwell, they become gravely unwell very rapidly, so it would just absolutely devastate a small community.”
Professor Amanda Johnson said many in the community were very positive about getting vaccinated and were encouraging family and friends to roll up their sleeves.
“We were invited to a woolshed where we provided vaccinations to the shearers who wished to be vaccinated,” Professor Johnson said.
“The majority of those shearers and their immediate families took up the chance as they travel through different regions for work, so it was important for them to have that level of protection.
“It’s so important that we ensure that everyone in this community is vaccinated. There are also many trucks that come through, which adds to the risk of spread. So, it’s essential that everyone has that added level of safety.”
Among the positive responses from the community, there has also been some hesitancy and fear around getting the vaccination.
Professor Wilson said there was a mixture of feelings in the community, and they were working hard to dispel the popular myths associated with the vaccines.
“I think one of the worrying things for people in this community is the communication is not strong. Telecommunication can drop out and even free to air television, and the news can be difficult to get,” she said.
“So it does mean that a lot of the communication and messages they receive are through commercial sources, which can sometimes skew public health messages.
“Vaccine information that people get is not always correct, and that causes some concern and confusion in the community. So a lot of the work we have been doing while vaccinating is trying to help the community understand the importance and relative safety of vaccination.”
The nursing team members said they were thankful to be given the opportunity to help WAMS and commended the Vice-Chancellor, who released the three senior staff members from their duties to help in Walgett.
Hayley McMahon