Meet UHDB super vaccinator Abbie Marston
For most of the year Abbie Marston works as a registered nurse but since September she has been centred at Royal Derby Hospital’s vaccination hub, offering covid boosters and flu vaccinations to keep UHDB colleagues safe.
Abbie is just one of UHDB’s super vaccinators, lending her time to the seasonal vaccinations programme which aims to protect our staff with the covid booster and flu vaccinations.
This is the first year Abbie has offered her efforts in the vaccination hub, after becoming inspired to “do something positive” after a tough few years due to the pandemic.
She said: “I normally work in Orthopaedics on ward 206 and during covid I have seen the massively negative impact on patients, particularly those who were having elective surgery.
“I felt like becoming a vaccinator was an opportunity to do something positive for colleagues and our patients and an opportunity to see how it is as a band 6.
“It has been really positive so far. I have met with lots of different people and different teams and everyone has been so helpful and positive.”
As part of the vaccination team Abbie has helped co-ordinate the vaccinators in the Derby hub aswell as helping co-ordinate roaming across all five UHDB sites and pop-up clinics. It has been a huge operation to ensure all staff have been given access to the covid booster and flu vaccinations and has seen many changes and challenges along the way, despite this Abbie has enjoyed her time in the hub and said she has learned a lot.
She said: “I love that we have to work together to get the job done.
“It is good to have people here with lots of knowledge and experience and others who haven’t done it before but are enthusiastic and want to learn and support the programme.
“The response from the bank team has been really positive with lots of people coming forward and I found that any anxieties people had have been reassured quite quickly by the e-learning.
“The team has been working so hard and I am proud to be a vaccinator.”
The vaccination hub at RDH is now open for appointments which can be booked via swiftqueue and walk-ins. Roaming and pop-up clinics are also taking place. To find out more about how you can get your vaccinations, visit Net-i.