Westmead vaccination hub celebrates four weeks of COVID-19 jabs
The hardworking team behind Westmead Hospital’s COVID-19 vaccination hub celebrated the end of their fourth successful week of vaccinations with a barbecue breakfast and afternoon tea today.
The celebration comes as staff began receiving their second vaccine doses and western Sydney reached 500,000 COVID-19 tests.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed this week the state reached its goal of 35,000 people vaccinated within the first three weeks.
The Westmead Hospital vaccination hub team deserve praise and recognition for hitting the ground running – operating 12 hours a day without a hitch – according to administration and registration manager Louise Weston.
“I’m most proud of the teamwork and the unique culture we’ve developed here. The team is representing the core values of our organisation on a daily basis and working together to achieve all our goals.
“The staff have come from all our facilities within Western Sydney Local Health District as well as other local health districts and the Children’s Hospital Network. It’s a really diverse group that’s come together for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Louise said.
Nurse unit manager Disha Balraj said the barbeque was a good opportunity to continue building camaraderie within the team.
“Everyone goes above and beyond. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback so it’s good to share that and acknowledge people’s hard work and dedication,” Disha said.
Administration officer Anastasia Zhao was named employee of the week in recognition of her flexibility and hard work – scoring a Zouki coffee voucher for her efforts.
Anastasia was working in aged care before taking a COVID-19 screening job at Blacktown Hospital last year, having completed her Masters in Public Health.
“My passion for public health started with SARS, when my family worked on the front line. So it doesn’t scare me. I want to do something to help.
“This is a very exciting role. Even though Australia has handled the pandemic really well, we’re doing an important job for stopping COVID, protecting people and helping life go back to normal. It’s very meaningful and rewarding,” Anastasia said.
Our vaccination hub at Westmead Hospital is only providing the vaccine to staff and frontline workers and is not open to the general public.
COVID-19 vaccinations will become available in phases meaning groups of people will receive the vaccination at different times.
To check when you will be eligible, you can visit https://covid-vaccine.healthdirect.gov.au/eligibility
