THE FIRST AND THE LAST LINK
As the vaccination programme at the SSE in Belfast hits the 100,000 mark, former contractor, Sheelagh Hillan, tells PiF about the work retired healthcare professionals are doing…
I was, unfortunately, in the vulnerable group and so was unable to help out. Thankfully, when the latest call came for semi-retired or retired professionals to help out at the SSE, I was ready to answer it!
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The fact that up to 60 vaccinators and two pharmacy teams are required at all times has seen many retired or semi-retired healthcare professionals like myself step in to help in the mass vaccination centre.
As a community pharmacist, I had always been very aware of the outstanding part my peers were playing during the pandemic - with little media thanks for their continued help.
It’s quite an experience for the community pharmacists among us to be working alongside
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pharmacyinfocus.com
hen the first call came for former healthcare professionals to help out with various aspects of the pandemic,
Sheelagh Hillan
nurses, doctors, dentists, optometrists etc. We are all working as many shifts as required to keep the service running and are very conscious of the direction and expertise of the pharmacists managing our contribution.
The two pharmacy stations are based in the dugouts that are normally used by the Belfast Giants. We give out for three lanes in one and two lanes in another and they’re normally queued out.
The assessors have to be very careful, primarily because the patients forget to tell you about the medication that they’re already on, so there have to be loads of checks. People don’t mind, however. You can see people moving slowly outside, but they don’t seem to mind.
The whole system at the SSE Odyssey is extremely efficient and very good. Once people have had their vaccine they sit for fifteen
minutes – some sit twenty – in seats that are all marked out.
People don’t realise the role of pharmacy in keeping the process going. They see the assessor and the vaccinator, but only see the pharmacist if there’s a query. The pharmacist is the ‘silent partner’ in terms of the public, but, fortunately, the other healthcare professionals are seeing the pharmacist in an equal role more than they would ever have done.
We’re making sure that people are getting the right vaccine. We’re the first link and the last link in the process.
It’s a pleasure to be able to help and I must congratulate all the pharmacists and technicians working in our section of the overall team.
We owe them – and all who have stepped up – a big debt of gratitude.
PEOPLE DON’T REALISE THE ROLE OF PHARMACY IN KEEPING THE PROCESS GOING
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