Small act of kindness for Brisbane COVID testing clinic ‘totally shaken’ by surge in testing
Staff at a Brisbane COVID-19 testing clinic, who were left literally shaking by a massive surge in demand last week, have been left in tears by one small act of kindness.
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A community has rallied behind workers of a Brisbane COVID-19 testing clinic after staff were “totally shaken” by the rush of tests in the past few days.
Clinics have seen a surge in people getting tested for the virus, with currently 12 active cases in the state, with seven in hospital.
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Jacqueline Rose took to her local community page recently, saying she visited a clinic on Lillian Ave, Salisbury for a COVID-19 test and was upset to see the toll the surge of testing had on staff.
“The poor ladies doing the testing are totally shaken after their experiences … they were overrun with folks needing testing, no time to eat or hydrate, and kept copping abuse along the way,” Rose wrote.
“If you have to wait, please understand the extremely difficult job these folks are trying to do and just be patient.”
Speaking with The Courier-Mail, Rose said the women in the clinic were “visibly shaking” when she arrived to get tested.
“The lady that took me through was lovely, but very shaky, and a bit nervous,” she said.
“They said the day before they had been absolutely slammed with people demanding to get tested, they were just copping abuse because of the waiting times and people not being patient.
“But also, they didn’t have time to look after themselves. They didn’t have time to have anything to drink, or anything to eat. They were just so focused on getting stuff done and they weren’t looking after themselves.”
Her experience at the clinic struck a chord within the community group, with people offering to chip in to buy the staff lunch, some delivering homemade cookies and coffees.
“Someone was providing them with pizza for lunch, the local cafe just a block away from them delivered coffee and morning tea. I organised for our local baker Tracy, she does the best gluten free Anzac biscuits in the world, and I bought some Anzac biscuits for her and she dropped them off at the clinic for me,” Rose said.
Rose said her neighbours got tested the same afternoon and said the workers were in tears “just over the fact people were caring for them”.
“From what they were copping the day before, they were just so grateful.”