‘Adopt’ a local healthcare worker today

A TORQUAY resident’s feeling of powerlessness to help the region’s COVID-19 frontline healthcare workers was the motivation Dr Hannah Drury needed to get a local initiative off the ground.

Dr Hannah Drury, a lecturer in Psychology at Deakin University’s Geelong Waterfront campus, is putting a local take on a national initiative that started in April, 2020, to aid healthcare workers on the Surf Coast and surrounding regions.

The Adopt a Healthcare Worker initiative is operating across the country with numerous subgroups covering areas in different cities and towns.

Dr Drury is the administrator of the Adopt a Healthcare Worker (Surf Coast and Surrounds) group on Facebook that went live less than a fortnight ago.

“I just wanted to do something tangible,” Dr Drury said.

“Just doing something to show the healthcare workers here that the community has their back.”

Dr Drury has been living in the Torquay and Freshwater Creek area for the past year and a half.

Prior to this, she had been living in Geelong and Ocean Grove, so it is safe to say the Deakin University staff member is certainly familiar with the Barwon region.

Adopt a Healthcare Worker sees healthcare workers in any capacity reaching out to the group’s administrators requesting help to complete everyday tasks, or willing volunteers posting on the group’s page letting workers know of their availabilities around the region.

Tasks that can be completed range from meals being prepped or dogs getting walked. The group can also feed pets, mow lawns, pick up the shopping or do any number of basic tasks to take some of the pressure off frontline workers.

There is also the option for a community member to ‘adopt’ a specific healthcare worker, helping out that one worker wherever assistance is needed in day-to-day life.

“Ever since this Facebook group started, I have noticed just how supportive is of each other,” Dr Drury said.

“There’s a real sense of community banding together, particularly in this first run of posts, so hopefully we can continue to do more to support our healthcare workers.”

A healthcare worker can be anyone working in a healthcare setting such as a testing and vaccination centre, aged care, disability sector, mental health, pharmacies, GP clinics, outreach, palliative care teams and hospitals.

The Adopt a Healthcare administration do not limit the term healthcare worker to doctors and nurses in hospitals. The group cites a healthcare worker as any person working with and around any healthcare setting as stated above. All the way from volunteers to the CEO.

The Adopt a Healthcare Worker (Surf Coast and Surrounds) group has more than 250 members already and can be joined on Facebook.