The Many Faces of Guernsey's CVC

 

Meet Rachel Ephgrave, she's part of the Vaccine Admin Team supporting Guernsey's Covid Vaccination Centre.  We asked Rachel to tell us a bit about herself and to share her thoughts on working at the CVC and living in Guernsey through the pandemic... of course, we put it in a List!

Here's what Rachel had to say...

 

 

 

1.  Life before the CVC

I was a midwife on Loveridge Ward for several years and left to have my family, two daughters who now live in the UK pursuing careers of their own. I thoroughly enjoyed my time on Loveridge Ward and would have returned had family life not taken over, so when I saw an opportunity to become involved with the Vaccine team, albeit in an admin role, I was very pleased to be offered the opportunity.

Prior to joining the vaccine team I had been working as a bank contact tracer for Public Health, a role I still continue to do as and when needed.  Both roles are different but equally rewarding!

 

2.  A bit about me

I was born and brought up in Guernsey and have pretty much lived here all my life with the exception of Nurse/Midwifery training in the UK. I am married and we have two daughters and also have an amazing dog, well I think he’s amazing! My husband and daughters know where my priorities lie! We found him in a kill shelter in Mallorca and took him home. He is a Basset Hound mixed with a Spanish Water Dog! I better add that my daughters are also amazing in case they ever read this. We spent some time in Mallorca when my daughters were younger as they were educated there and it’s somewhere we love to visit and feel is our second home 

There is nowhere like Guernsey though, and we were so pleased (and relieved) to have been in Guernsey at the start of the pandemic as nowhere else in the world dealt with it the way we did, thanks to our amazing team at Public Health and the response by the Guernsey public who all rose to the occasion like one big community.

The community spirit and general atmosphere along with the ‘in it together’ attitude of everyone here, especially during lockdowns 1 and 2 were inspiring and made us feel so proud to be part of it. We’re looking forward to the restrictions being eased and eventually lifted so that we can get on with a ‘new normal’ and travel again, firstly to see my daughter in the UK who we haven’t seen for far too long. 

 

3.  A typical day

As admin for the vaccinators my colleague Jackie and I work remotely from home. This started during the most recent lockdown and suits us well as we are able to be more flexible with hours. We start with a morning catch up, decide what the priorities are and share them between us. We organise rotas for the vaccinators, change shifts as necessary, collate training certificates and ensure everyone is up to date with training etc., process new vaccinator training and also collate the vaccinators’ timesheets.

We keep in touch several times a day with the CVC clinical leads and have a mid-morning catch up with Trevor (the boss!) We also regularly call, email and text the long suffering vaccinators to either change, cancel or add them to shifts, sometimes at very short notice and the responses we receive from all of them couldn’t be more helpful and accommodating, despite most of them having full or part-time demanding roles.

Nothing is ever too much trouble and they are all such a brilliant team, ready to give up their spare time at the drop of a hat to help whenever they are needed. They are an inspiration and Jackie and I, are so thankful to them all for their patience, understanding and tireless dedication to get the island vaccinated so we can all move on!

Thanks guys, you’re all brilliant and it’s been a privilege to have been able to help.

 

Thank you Rachel!

There's more from Rachel and her colleagues in our feature on The Many Faces of Guernsey's CVC

Imagery by Paul Chambers