Patricia Mauritz, voluntary helper at events
Reading time 5 minuten
By choosing a different approach and surprising locations, district Flevoland managed to reach a group of undocumented immigrants for vaccination against corona. The key to their success? Involving key figures in neighbourhoods and churches in motivating people, and working with multilingual information material. We followed Patricia Mauritz during her period on duty from 16.00 to 19.30 on the vaccination day in Almere-Buiten.
16:00
START WORKDAY
Patricia and her colleagues' workplace in Almere-Buiten is unusual. Because today the church building on the Chicagostraat is functioning as a vaccination centre. And this was a conscious choice. It is a familiar, safe and trusted place for people. Patricia: “We have set everything up in the rooms at the side of the church, where meetings would normally be held.
Now we just have to wait for the first people to register. They come along after the service, spurred on to do so by their vicar, reverend Bright Antwi of the Crossfire Ministry.”
16:15
DOTTING THE I'S
While Patricia sorts out the waiting room and lays out a few more multilingual leaflets, the last details are put in place in the vaccination room. After having put their heads together to think up ways to increase the number of undocumented immigrants choosing to be vaccinated, the Red Cross and Flevoland's municipal health service ('GGD') are undertaking this action jointly today. “It doesn't matter whether you're from the Red Cross or the GGD, we're all one team.”
16:40
FIRST INTAKE INTERVIEW
It's a warm day today. Patricia quickly provides some extra water for the people in the waiting room. Meanwhile, the first intake interview takes place. And that calls for careful attention. Undocumented immigrants have no Citizen Service Number and are therefore not registered in most systems. Inputting the required information in combination with a language barrier means that the interview takes up a lot of time.
16:55
DON'T LOOK
That went reasonably well, says Patricia afterwards. He had followed her tip and had simply looked away when the injection happened. “Some people are scared of injections, above all needles, but I am good at helping them to deal with that.” And they only have to have one injection; a conscious choice was made for the Janssen vaccine. Because only one injection is necessary for that."
17:05
OBSERVATION
The church service has come to an end and the waiting room slowly fills up. Patricia keeps an eye on the first people who were vaccinated for quarter of an hour. That is important because someone might, for example, have an allergic reaction. In that case first aid is administered immediately. “I can see that some of them are still nervous. By simply talking to them I can often take away their anxiety and insecurity.”
17:25
NOT SO MANY QUESTIONS
While Patricia puts people at ease in the waiting room and keeps an eye on things, the colleagues from the GGD Flevoland are already busy with the next intake interview.
“One of the women wasn't sure whether she should have the vaccine. She wondered what the long-term side effects will be. But her faith gave her the motivation to do it anyway. Apart from that, I didn'have so many questions. I think that people have read up about the subject. The fact that the vicar talked about it during the service certainly helped as well.”
17:55
A CHEERFUL GROUP
The turnout is high; the waiting room is quite full. Some people have brought their children with them. “Now there's a family sitting there, a cheerful group. They have a baby with them and they are all looking after it. I just had another chat with a woman, because I could see that she was finding it difficult. Luckily I managed to calm her down, because we don't want anyone starting to panic because they aren't breathing properly.”
18:20
EXTRA ENCOURAGEMENT
The vicar's wife, Mrs Antwi, regularly calls in to give people some extra encouragement. She offers a listening ear and shares her attention evenly with everyone. Like the vicar, she too emphasises that choosing to have the vaccination is the right choice. Patricia: “the people are grateful, and pleased that they too are being vaccinated. It means a lot to them that they are being thought of as well.”
18:45
SUCCESSFUL DAY
Patricia is happy with the turnout. The choice to offer vaccinations straight after the weekly service, and in the church building, has proven to be a hit. Reverend Antwi has also done his very best to make a successful day of it. He talked to people in their own language, dispelled the rumours and answered people's questions. “He really managed to motivate people and handed out a lot of our multilingual leaflets. And during the service he encouraged people to go and get vaccinated as well.”
19:35
CONCLUSION
After the last injection has been given, the day is done. Patricia tidies up, says goodbye to her colleagues, and decides to go and see reverend Antwi one more time. She thanks him for all his work and says: “I look back on a day full of pleasant conversations with friendly people. And everyone who was vaccinated thanked me personally afterwards. The vaccinations went off without a hitch. That gives me extra energy!”