Boosting Our Service To The Community

Just when we thought Covid vaccinations were done for the year, club member the Rev. Margaret Fowler announced that her church, Christ Church in Perry Street Billericay, had been asked to host vaccinations – for the booster jabs campaign.

The arrangements for the vaccination team were set up by Dr Nimit Dabas of Queens Park Surgery on behalf of ACE, the group that ran the initial vaccination sessions at Emmanuel Church earlier in the year. Margaret found volunteers from Christ Church for the essential task of keeping everyone provided with teas and coffees, but needed help to find people to manage car parking and queue management.

Joint Community Effort

Dave Randall, of the Rotary Club of Billericay Mayflower, who had done such a superb job in organizing volunteers when Emmanuel Church was used as a centre earlier in the year, was approached to organize this, freeing up medical staff to administer the vaccinations.

Our Roger Kettle was an early volunteer and, following his report to the club on October 11, Patrick Rothon, President Les Sheppard and IPP Peter Greene all helped out.  Les noted “This was a great opportunity to don our hi-viz jackets and show that Rotarians are people who act to help our community. It was also an opportunity to socialise with fellow volunteers and also members of the public – something most of us have missed over the past 18 months or so”.

To ensure people went to the right place, Dave made sure that the entrance to Christ Church was marked by welcoming signage and Rotary “Sails“.  As Dave says this is a “great joint combined community support” by all the service clubs in Billericay.  

A Challenging Day

Demand has continued with vaccinations 1-2 days most weeks with volunteers managing the car park, directing people to the vaccination room and ensuring a safe exit back on to the road.

Weather has been variable. Some days sunny and warm, but some the opposite, such as November 3 when in the afternoon the temperature suddenly dropped and the stewards had to shelter under umbrellas or don complete “wet weather gear”.  Peter Greene reports “I was cold to the core and avoided a soaking only because of an umbrella I brought with me. After nearly four hours on duty my legs were so stiff from standing up all that time that I had great difficulty walking home.  But it is all worth it to see the vaccinations run so smoothly and to hear the thanks from the vaccinated for all that we do.”

After Delta, Omicron

But this was not the end of the matter, Covid threw another curve ball with the Omicron variant originating in South Africa.  A new variant of concern with many variations from “Delta”.

Countries needed to react quickly with new measures, and in England, we heard that a mass campaign was launched to give every adult in the country a (third or) booster vaccination before the end of January.  
So how were we affected?

Not in the way we expected - the Christ Church centre for giving Covid-19 vaccination boosters was closed down, and our services were no longer required.