12,000 hours of covid vaccination centre volunteering!

Karen Eveleigh, 26th November 2021

Rotarians in the Thames Valley have clocked up in excess of 12,000 hours of volunteering at NHS covid vaccination centres since January. If we use the UK living wage of £8.91/hour to calculate the value of this we reach £107,000!

Volunteers started in January as the two new covid vaccines were rolled out across the country. They were there in the snow, they got sun burnt in our few months of summer and they are still out there now. They will be working through the winter as the booster jabs and flu jabs are given to most of the population. At some centres the volunteers are inside, helping with data entry or checking that people sit for the required 15 minutes after their jab. At many sites the volunteers are outside managing the parking and queues and providing a smiling welcome for everyone.

In some cases Rotary clubs were approached and asked to provide manpower for the local centres. However in other cases either the club or a particular Rotarian was approached and asked to lead the volunteer coordination. Martin Andrew from Haddenham and District Rotary Club was asked to coordinate his local volunteering and has had the support of club members and the local community since March, when he recruited eighty volunteers in a very short time. While many of the volunteers are not Rotarians, as Martin explained: 

“I always wear my Rotary tabard when I do a shift, as do my fellow-members, …. and all my e-mails have our club sign-off attached. No-one is therefore in any doubt the Rotary is involved.

“It has been a privilege to serve the community in managing the queues, signing people in, timed observations and perforce organising the queue for the pharmacy itself as well (it’s the sight of hi-viz jackets that leads people to assume we are in charge of that as well)…..2021 has been a year for me dominated almost completely by the covid clinic!”

Nicole Hockly from Marlow Thames Rotary explained that their club members assisted at the flu vaccination clinics before Christmas 2019. They have continued with their support of the covid vaccination clinics at Adams Park football ground, serving South Bucks and High Wycombe residents. Their team of over 50 marshals, led by Rotarian Richard Gyselynck, included Rotarians from three other local clubs as well as friends and family. As she says: 

“It’s not everyone who wants to stand outside in all weathers assisting and directing the older community - and observing their varying parking skills! However, Rotarians stepped up to the mark and were motivated by being able to contribute to a vital national effort, help the local community and, especially in the days of ‘lock down’, enjoy the fellowship of others.”

In Chalfont St Peter, members of Gerrards Cross & Chalfont St Peter Rotary have helped with welcoming people to the centre, keeping people in line with covid guidelines and issuing the paperwork. They are now also helping with the flu clinic. Phil Larman explained:

"Our first day of Flu Clinic was in the pouring rain and although soggy by the end of it we had fun.  The Medical Centre were very generous in presenting us each with a sensational box of Chocolates. So we had to come back and help out at the next clinic if for no other reason than to work off all those chocolatey calories."