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w w w . m i g r a n t n e w s . n z I w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / w w w . m i g r a n t n e w s . n z I email: migrantnews@xtra.co.nz<br />
P a g e 1 3<br />
‘Joyful reunions with<br />
loved ones overseas’<br />
There’s excitement<br />
brewing in the richly<br />
diverse community that a<br />
<strong>No</strong>rth Shore pharmacy<br />
looks after, with overseas<br />
travel plans really starting<br />
to take off.<br />
Unichem Browns Bay<br />
has, since it first joined<br />
the city-wide vaccine rollout<br />
in August last year,<br />
had the unique interests of<br />
its many ethnic groups top<br />
of mind.<br />
Supported by the<br />
Albany Vaccination<br />
Centre run by Waitemata<br />
District Health Board and<br />
Asian Health Services, the<br />
pharmacy held a series of<br />
special vaccination events<br />
for its Korean, Filipino,<br />
Myanmar and Chinese<br />
communities back in<br />
September.<br />
Hundreds took up the<br />
opportunities to get vaccinated<br />
with their first and<br />
later their second dose of<br />
the COVID-19 vaccine. To<br />
date, the pharmacy has<br />
successfully delivered<br />
more than 36,000 doses,<br />
the third highest vaccination<br />
rate of all pharmacies<br />
in Auckland.<br />
Pharmacist, and lead<br />
cheerleader for her community,<br />
Christina Shin,<br />
says the current Omicron<br />
outbreak has been<br />
tougher than expected but<br />
thankfully her wonderful<br />
team hadn’t been hit too<br />
badly.<br />
“We’ve been very lucky<br />
and only had one staff<br />
member who came down<br />
with COVID-19.”<br />
At the peak, she says<br />
they were very busy supporting<br />
isolating families<br />
with up to 10 deliveries of<br />
medicines per day. <strong>No</strong>w,<br />
she says, it’s around five<br />
or six a day.<br />
With case numbers<br />
dropping off, Ms Chin<br />
says many of her patients<br />
are embracing the now<br />
very real prospect of finally<br />
reuniting with their<br />
families overseas.<br />
Her team has been really<br />
busy carrying out predeparture<br />
testing for people.<br />
“People have waited a<br />
long time for this. Lots of<br />
people … for example our<br />
regular customers, who<br />
are quite elderly, haven’t<br />
had a chance to see their<br />
grandchildren for two or<br />
three years who are in<br />
Australia and Fiji and<br />
elsewhere.<br />
“It’s great to hear that<br />
they can do it now.”<br />
Ms Chin too cannot wait<br />
for her own trip back<br />
home to Korea later this<br />
week.<br />
“I’m going for four<br />
weeks. I haven’t been<br />
back in about three years.<br />
“My grandparents are<br />
there and my mum is<br />
there at the moment.<br />
“I’m taking my little<br />
boy with me… really looking<br />
forward to it!”<br />
But caring for her community<br />
is still a priority<br />
for Ms Shin, who’s now<br />
also focussing on increasing<br />
flu vaccination rates.<br />
There’s been good<br />
uptake so far with<br />
demand for the vaccine<br />
streaming in, she says.<br />
“We’re doing about 50 a<br />
day at the moment.”<br />
She says her elderly<br />
patients have been telling<br />
her they are worried<br />
about coming down with<br />
the flu and the potential<br />
for other outbreaks with<br />
the borders having reopened.<br />
Ms Shin is also concerned<br />
about the flu<br />
impacting her team this<br />
winter in particular. She’s<br />
glad everyone is making<br />
getting that vaccine a priority.<br />
Flu vaccines are free for<br />
the following people;<br />
those aged 65 and over,<br />
Maori and Pacific aged 55<br />
and over, pregnant people,<br />
those with underlying<br />
health issues, including<br />
asthma, diabetes and<br />
heart conditions, and children<br />
aged under 4 with<br />
pre-existing illnesses.<br />
Lately, Mr Wee<br />
says, their focus<br />
has been on<br />
delivering booster<br />
doses and flu<br />
vaccinations.<br />
“We have been<br />
really busy. And<br />
also busy catching<br />
up with a backlog<br />
of people needing<br />
help, a lot of<br />
patients who have<br />
put off their health<br />
checks because of<br />
COVID-19.<br />
‘Taking over a<br />
new practice<br />
mid-lockdown<br />
both a crisis and<br />
opportunity’<br />
Mid-lockdown late last<br />
year, a young multi-lingual<br />
doctor working in rural<br />
south Auckland snapped<br />
up the chance to take over<br />
an east Auckland practice<br />
from two retiring GPs.<br />
Luke Wee, with his wife<br />
and one-year-old baby in<br />
tow, started running<br />
Meadowbank Medical<br />
Centre in <strong>No</strong>vember.<br />
“It did seem a bit crazy<br />
at the time. A lot of people<br />
were trying to get out of<br />
working in the middle of<br />
the pandemic. A lot of people<br />
were burnt out and facing<br />
a lot of different stresses<br />
for their personal<br />
health.<br />
“I saw it as both a crisis<br />
and an opportunity.”<br />
Almost immediately, the<br />
practice opened up to<br />
walk-ins for testing,<br />
extending the invitation to<br />
non-enrolled patients, and<br />
in mid-January this year,<br />
started vaccinating.<br />
More recently, the centre<br />
has also joined a small<br />
number of sites across the<br />
city in offering the<br />
<strong>No</strong>vavax vaccine.<br />
“We have found it<br />
rewarding to offer an<br />
alternative. I think there’s<br />
a sense of relief that there’s<br />
an alternative for those<br />
who are not keen on the<br />
Pfizer vaccine and there’s<br />
also a degree of openness<br />
to the vaccine that we<br />
haven’t seen previously.<br />
“People who had been<br />
waiting, people who had<br />
been previously sceptical,<br />
are now more open to the<br />
vaccine.”<br />
Mr Wee speaks English,<br />
Mandarin, Cantonese,<br />
Malay, French and Te reo<br />
Maori with varying fluency.<br />
Some of his staff are<br />
also bilingual. Serving his<br />
multicultural community<br />
is especially important to<br />
him.<br />
“I’m Asian by origin but<br />
it doesn’t limit me to my<br />
own community. I think as<br />
modern day clinicians, we<br />
really have to think hard<br />
about what’s our role in<br />
society. And I think one of<br />
our roles is a connector of<br />
people.<br />
“And we are quite privileged<br />
to cut across all sectors<br />
of society. The ability<br />
to communicate and speak<br />
the language of the people<br />
we are trying to serve<br />
makes our work more<br />
rewarding.”<br />
Mr Wee says a recent<br />
example of this springs to<br />
mind.<br />
“An Algerian family<br />
came in who only spoke<br />
Arabic and French, and<br />
were all unwell with<br />
COVID-19.<br />
“They couldn’t find any<br />
health services that were<br />
able to communicate well<br />
with them.<br />
“I was privileged to be<br />
able to speak to them and<br />
help.”<br />
Lately, Mr Wee says,<br />
their focus has been on<br />
delivering booster doses<br />
and flu vaccinations.<br />
“We have been really<br />
busy. And also busy catching<br />
up with a backlog of<br />
people needing help, a lot<br />
of patients who have put<br />
off their health checks<br />
because of COVID-19.<br />
“We are also actively<br />
recruiting for new clinicians,<br />
trying to train new<br />
doctors, getting medical<br />
students in next month, as<br />
well as looking at overseas<br />
recruitment.”<br />
FLU VACCINE<br />
You can get your free<br />
flu vaccination from<br />
your GP or healthcare<br />
provider, with many<br />
pharmacies also offering<br />
it to people aged<br />
13 and over.<br />
Flu vaccines are free for<br />
the following people; those<br />
aged 65 and over, Maori<br />
and Pacific aged 55 and<br />
over, pregnant people,<br />
those with underlying<br />
health issues, including<br />
asthma, diabetes and heart<br />
conditions, and children<br />
aged under 4 with preexisting<br />
illnesses.