North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service employees volunteer to help Nimbuscare with the Covid-19 vaccination effort
Nimbuscare is working in collaboration with North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service at the York Vaccination Site – and it has been a great success all round.
Nimbuscare’s Chief Executive Officer, Madeline Ruff, explained: “North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service approached us to say that they had employees who were willing to be seconded to us to help with the Covid effort. We now have six full-time members of the Fire Service working at the Yorkshire Vaccination Centre and we’re hugely appreciative of their fantastic contribution. They are working alongside our vaccinators, doing vital work, dealing with the public and, in doing so, boosting patient relations. It’s a wonderful team effort.”
When asked to help out at the York Vaccination Site, North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service jumped at the chance. Since mid-February, six of its employees have been working in administrative roles, sitting in the vaccination pods alongside clinicians/vaccinators and inputting patient information.
The seconded Fire & Rescue Service employees are delighted to be part of the vaccination effort and have described it as an ‘excellent experience’. Going to the extra mile, one Fire & Rescue Service worker even replaced his mask with a visor/face shield, having noticed that wearing masks caused problems to patients who were reliant on lip-reading.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Jonathan Foster, who was given a tour of the Vaccination Site last week, said: “I was hugely impressed with my visit to the Vaccination Centre site. The set-up and organisation is second to none, so a big well done to our colleagues in the NHS, other agencies and the many volunteers who have been responsible for setting it up, along with countless others throughout the country. I’m pleased that we’ve been able to play a small part by having some fire service staff seconded into the centre to help.”
Madeline Ruff continued: “There is a really good relationship between our two organisations. Harrogate District Manager Andy Creasey does a site visit once a week and liaises with our site team. The consistency of having the same six Fire & Rescue Service employees for three months is great for us too. Meanwhile, the Fire &Rescue Service are happy that their organisation has taken the decision to support the effort.”
Gemma Wensley, Programme Manager at the Vaccination site, concluded: “We love having the Fire Service team here. Their presence is reassuring to patients, who associate the organisation with safety and caring, and their devotion is off the scale.”
Caption details:
- Left to right: Firefighter Stuart Rawcliffe, Jonathan Foster (Deputy Chief Fire Officer) , Firefighter Martyn DeMontfort.
- Left to right: Professor Mike Holmes (Nimbuscare), Firefighter Stuart Rawcliffe, Jonathan Foster (Deputy Chief Fire Officer), Firefighter Martyn DeMontfort., Dr David Hartley (Nimbuscare), CEO Maddy Ruff (Nimbuscare).
