March 15th, 2025Covid five years on – and oh, the memories

As medical professionals, early 2020 we were watching a virus cut through Europe, in particular Italy, where young, healthy people and pregnant women were suddenly dying, not to mention those with health concerns and over 70.

Springs Medical Centre GP Brad Wyer

When I reflect on our journey over the past five years with Covid, you need to remember the different stages and what we knew at the time.

It was rumoured Italy did not have enough health resources and would not ventilate a patient with Covid if they were over 60 due to the level of disease.

So, when Covid came knocking on Australia’s door there was a lot of fear about what was to come. Primary care centres, it must be said, at the start were left out in the cold by the government.

We could not procure personal protective equipment, we were not included in health policies on how to protect certain locations, it was all hospital and aged care based.

For the first few months we had to fend for ourselves. I remember vividly my wife asking me on Tuesday night, March 10, 2020 as I stared vacantly at the ceiling: “Was I ok? “No I was not”.

If we had a staff member with Covid, it meant all those in contact isolating for two weeks, which meant we had no staff to care for the public or help the hospital.

Amongst all that fear, came a moment the people of the Central Highlands should recognise, what great people you have working at Springs.

It was then we divided into work teams, three groups who would never work together and were asked not to mingle together after work even outside lockdowns.

This to operate Kyneton (a clinic we had only just opened at the time), Trentham and Daylesford. This they did for many months, and it meant no matter what, we always had a team available to care for the community.

Over the year, we did get great support from Central Highlands Rural Health in staffing clinics to test for Covid, (the nurses were amazing) and Western Victorian Primary Health Network worked diligently to get us PPE to protect our staff.

We rolled out vaccination clinics when the time came to vaccinate over 10,000 people. There were many difficulties along the way and new learnings.

Protective shields at the front desk, the ever-changing isolation criteria, and questions our staff had to ask such as if people had been holidaying overseas to having contacts with Covid, which meant a telephone consult first.

Consulting at times in face masks, shields and gloves made the interaction alien and difficult. The number of times I was speaking loudly to have patients hear me, combined with the fact the face shield acted like an echo chamber, making it louder for me.

I remember at one of our first ‘flu vaccination clinics, a woman attended amazingly well dressed. I had to ask where she was going as we were in lockdown at the time.

She replied: “Brad, I haven’t been out for six weeks so I wanted to make an effort.” These are the beautiful memories I keep.

Now five years later, I try to look at the good that has come from it. I sympathise with those who have lost loved ones to this virus, or those who suffered consequences of the vaccination program. But within that, there is no doubt the program has saved lives and health costs.

The introduction of telehealth was brought on by Covid-19. The ability for patients to have Medicare rebates to get health advice over the phone has been something we have wanted for years.

I also believe we all now have insights into when we are unwell, not wanting to spread an illness. Gone are the days where one of the easiest places to get sick was the doctors’ office, where people would sit in the waiting room with fevers, and coughing and spreading the illness they had.

Now we have the safety of the isopod where we can safely see ill patients to protect ourselves, staff and others. Previously I would get sick from patients two to three times a year.

Finally, my biggest take home, working at Springs Medical. Watching these wonderous staff support people who were scared and frightened, helping them through the worst, and also dividing into teams so as to mean we always had a workforce available.

This they did while looking after their own family. You could not ask for a better bunch of people.