Outdoor vaccines in severe gales, gusting to storm force winds

A couple of 8 hour shifts this week before a period of nine days off. Mostly unremarkable shifts with a mix of vaccine delivery, supervision of new starts and occasional oversight of reconstitution cabin. However we also had a rather mighty wind…

The second of my shifts was on windy Tuesday. It was fine enough when I arrived in the late morning but the wind speeds quickly picked up and did cause some anxiety as well as some problems. I was informed that the structures were designed to withstand wind speeds of 60mph. However the forecast was for a wind speed of 55mph with gusts considerably higher. Various parts of our secure marquees began to work loose and teams of staff from the marquee providers soon arrived to tie, repair and lash things down as much a possible. One avenue was out of action for most of the shift because of loose dangling light fittings.

The main issue for vaccinators were the doors to the cabins which could be rather hard to hold onto in gusts and the risk of various parts of our equipment blowing away and disappearing over the horizon. It was also difficult at times to communicate with patients as the noise of flapping canvas, banging metal and howling, whistling winds added to the muffle of face masks to conspire to reduce comprehension on both sides. We sorted the door issue by moving to and only using cabins on the leeward side while the communication issue was overcome through raised voices bordering on shouting.

I believe all staff were asked if they were happy to continue and as far as I am aware to their credit every single one agreed to do so.

So that’s me until late next week. On my return I may be taking on the role of shift lead from time to time. The nurse in charge of the site is very good, always calm, exudes confidence and is well informed but she is also almost always there for twelve hours every day. Hopefully a few of us can take on some additional lead roles to allow her some shorter shifts and even some days off from time to time.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

So long and thanks for all the fish

  Well that's a bit odd. I think I may have completed my last shift as a vaccinator at the weekend there... I finally managed to get some movement on joining the staff bank. Following some excellent advice from wiser colleagues I made direct email contact with some NHS Lothian high heid yins and lo and behold it worked. I should be part of the staff bank before the end of the month. It's a shame it took so long and required such escalation but hey ho, that's sometimes how it needs to go. So, why have I finished so abruptly? Well, I am on annual leave for the next two weeks, my contract ends at the end of March, hopefully smoothly eliding into a bank contract and I have 24hrs of annual leave remaining...which pretty much covers the remainder of March. So...that's it. I'm done. At least for the time being. My last couple of shifts over the weekend were fairly quiet and uneventful. I met two former colleagues from health who I worked with in East Lothian a good few...
Read more

Spoon man, sweary fitba fan, QMU get together, Hogmanay moon boots, possible re-registration and jabbing on in Leith

Time for a new update… Vaccinations continue apace at Leith. The very busy clinics of a month or so ago are beginning to quieten down lately. I presume we will soon start to do boosters and flu jabs by appointment before too long as drop-in first and second jabs appear to reducing in number as is only to be expected. Now for two of my favourite recent vaccine hesitant clients. First up is Spoon Man closely followed by Sweary Fitba Fan. Spoon Man came in for his second vaccination. After receiving it he asked if he could ask what he thought might be a stupid or silly question. I encouraged him to ask away. He said that he had seen a lady online who, after receiving her vaccination, had attached a spoon to her arm at the injection site thereby supporting the “theory” that Covid vaccinations are magnetised, or contain magnetic material. He said he had brought his own spoon. Trying hard to keep my eyebrows attached to my face I indicated that he sho...
Read more

Rejoining the NMC (Nursing) Register

Okay, day one of my attempt to return to nursing following three years of retirement. First a wee bit background. I retired from the NHS just over three years ago after a career as a nurse, health visitor, public health practitioner and clinical nurse manager. I enjoyed all of my roles in the NHS , some more than others and liked the vast majority of the colleagues I worked alongside and the clients I worked with. However I have also absolutely loved retirement. I did a very small amount of bank health visiting immediately following retirement but found that it interfered too much with my retirement plans and activities. And then along came coronavirus, or s evere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and its consequence, covid-19 – the worlds first full blown pandemic for over 100 years. And so I thought, what could I do? I am no longer a registered nurse or health visitor. My registration having lapsed at the end of January 2020 and I had not considered renewing ...
Read more