Page 27 - RADC Bulletin 2022

A Merry MACA Christmas
Maj Kate Blyth
As many will know, or can guess, a phone call from your boss on a Friday evening isn’t usually for a catch up. Which is how with two days’ notice I ended up sat in Aldershot last December tasked to be part of the Military Aid to Civilian Authorities (MACA) Vaccination Task Force (VTF) for JMC(SE).
I was placed at Portsmouth to act as the Registered Healthcare Professional for a team of six RAF personnel as part of the vaccination team at Hamble House. The first two days were a whirlwind involving what felt like 100 e-learning courses, many documents to read and some in-person hands-on vaccination training before very quickly being let loose on the public by day three.
My job was different to the usual day of dentistry as it was my responsibility
to prepare the vaccine vials and draw
up the syringes while supervising the vaccinators and being alert for any medical emergencies or issues with records. There was a lot of media interest in our arrival to generate publicity and encourage people to get vaccinated
which led to my star turn on local news swirling vaccine vials in the background. The system at the Vaccination Centre was extremely efficient already and our presence simply allowed people to come through the doors in greater numbers to meet demand. People were in and out rapidly and we smashed the previous record number of vaccinations in one day achieved at Hamble House within a couple of weeks of arriving.
Though the days were 12-13 hours long, the atmosphere more than made up for it. I was lucky to have a fantastic team who though young and inexperienced were hard working, professional and always
up for a laugh. As all small dental centres know, a sense of humour is essential when you spend all day together in a confined space! The Hamble House
staff were also excellent and extremely welcoming to us, even when a gentleman commented that he was glad ‘the real professionals were here now’, cue eye rolls by the nurse that heard and a guilty look from the just out of training RAF engineer who wisely pretended to have a
case of pseudohypacusis (Ed - false and exaggerated hearing loss) and ignore this statement.
December was extremely busy,
though after some negotiation we did all manage to get a couple of days off over Christmas before we were right back
to it. Sadly, during January, the uptake
for vaccinations dwindled and the long days started to drag but we had multiple quizzes, an anti-vax protest or two, some team members mastering Rubik’s cubes and other group games to keep morale high. Our team was halved in mid-January and then our participation ended at the start of February, and it was back to the Dental Centre and normal life once more.
Overall, I look back at what was an interesting UK deployment that gave
me a much better understanding of
the challenging work involved in the Vaccination centres and a sense of having helped make a difference during a difficult time for the NHS and the public. It has also highlighted the versatility of the military and how useful an asset we can be outside of the Dental Centre.
different issues. The only negative about the whole day was that we were guided
by driving hours and driving conditions otherwise we would have stayed longer and seen more patients.
Adventure Training
The whole Squadron was split into groups, and everyone attended an AT package. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it as this consisted of mountain climbing, abseiling,
tombstoning and the highlight- abseiling down a waterfall!
Once all was done and the G4 was sorted and heading back to the UK we made our way back to Kifaru Barracks and then back to Brize Norton on the flight the next day. I would urge anyone who hasn’t been to grab the opportunity if it comes your way as Exercise Askari Serpent was a truly memorable experience. With the new Dental Centre refurbishment at Nyati
Barracks about to take place there are great opportunities to spend some time in Kenya on short rotations. In fact, while we were there both LCpl McNally and LCpl Sahi were trawled to go back for 3- and 6-month periods respectively. Both agreed without hesitation as Kenya is a great experience to be had.
All in all, what a way to start a Med Regt posting!
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