From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 2 August

In Britain’s darkest hours, when the Nazi Luftwaffe’s ferocious blitzkrieg set ablaze the Empire’s oldest capital, London, the wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, inspired the Nation. He assured them: These are not dark days, these are great days…

…and he was right. The people listened and they rallied. They kept calm, and they carried-on. It was the only thing to do. England had not been invaded since 1066, and they bloody well weren’t going to be! A cockney woman from the East-end said, prophetically, “That A-dolf Hitler, huh!  ‘e don’t know wot ‘e’s let ‘iself in for.” Ultimately, the Brits won the war!

Looking back at those days, words, and people through the prism of 2020 and the ominous swirling fog of COVID19 which has enveloped the world, there is much we can, and should, learn from Britain’s indomitable wartime spirit, and their dogged fight to survive, against the odds. Today, we are fighting another war, but this is a war where the enemy is invisible, but equally lethal.

As Britons did in those uncertain days, the men and women of today are responding in a time of grave national crisis. They are putting their shoulders to the wheel, regardless of the dangers, in the service of the nation and their fellow Australians.

Our front-line workers are to be applauded for their selfless commitment and contribution as we discover new ways to stay afloat in uncharted waters. Hourly, our medical practitioners wittingly placing themselves in harm’s way in their fight against the pandemic. By way of explanation, Ballarat Group Practice GP, Dr Rimas Liubinas, said, “Please, wear a mask when you come to see me. It’s more likely I’ll get COVID so you need to be protected from me as well”. He, like every medico who continues to treat patients, is mindful but undaunted by the omnipresent infection risk. All deserve our gratitude and thanks.

At the Ballarat Oncology and Haematology Services, headed by the brilliant Professor George Kannourakis and his exceptional colleague, Dr Prashanth Prithviraj, the team of oncological nurses, whose names will mean nothing to most of you – Mal, Debbie, Maxine, Jo, Heather, Kylie, Jackie, Virginia, Nola, and unit roustabout Skeeta, carry-on as usual. Kitted-out in unflattering personal protective equipment they laugh and joke as they administer critical treatments and drugs to patients with varying degrees of insidious cancer. Maxine recounts an hilarious tale from a family birthday celebration as she painlessly slides a seemingly crowbar-sized needle into my arm and draws-off 450mls of bad blood! Daily, hundreds of vital procedures are being carried-out at St John of God and Ballarat Base hospitals, where dedicated medical practitioners are putting patients’ welfare before their own.

Across our communities we have countless committed frontline workers whose Herculean efforts make it possible for us to get-on with the routine pace and beat of daily existence. Our supermarket employees; phlebologists, medical receptionists and allied workers; men and women of our police force who protect us from anarchy and chaos, and who now have been called-upon to carry-out duties which might be deemed outside of their conventional purview; bus, train and taxi drivers whose efforts keep the city’s populace moving; council workers in numerous vital areas; and teachers whose student curricula have been thrown into devastating uncertainty. These men and women, ordinary people doing extraordinary things, are heroic. They deserve to be lauded for their willing, and rewarded for their selflessness.

In a message to the world, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, said, “If we remain united and resolute we will overcome it. We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return. We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.”

Until then, we must, everyone, be alert to the fatal menace of this pandemic and follow, absolutely, the orders of the government and the chief medical officers.

Meanwhile, keep calm, carry on, and stay safe!

Roland can be heard on RADIO 3BA, every Monday morning, 10.45 and emailed via [email protected].