BAGGING UP COVID KITS THE VINNIES WAY

If you live in NSW and have been tested for COVID, chances are you will have used one of the nearly 1.5 million testing kits assembled by the team of supported workers at Vinnies’ Ozanam Industries.
Ozanam Industries – named after the Society of St Vincent de Paul’s 19th-century Parisian founder – has centres in the Sydney suburbs of Stanmore and West Ryde, as well as in Coonamble, on the NSW central western plains.
The Vinnies centres are places where employees can build confidence, learn new skills and take pride in their work, all in a safe, supportive and professional environment.
Rod Silber, Business Development Manager – Disability and Inclusion at Stanmore, says Ozanam offered a helping hand to NSW Health Pathology in July last year.
He says Ozanam has provided a professional, customer-focused service to some of Australia’s most respected companies, State Government departments, and community groups for more than 40 years, so it was perfectly placed to help.
Along with vaccinating and contact tracing, testing is a key component in the fight against COVID-19’s spread, but up until then exhausted NSW Health staff had been packing the Covid test kits – nasal and throat swabs, storage vial and a sealable plastic bag – at the end of their busy shifts in the lab and in the Newcastle office.
Mr Silber says when NSW Health commissioned Ozanam to assemble the kits, it was a win for both organisations.
“Our priority is to ensure that each person has the opportunity to develop their full potential as a member of the Australian workforce through effective, relevant, and ongoing training,” he says.
“This work was extremely exciting for our supported employees and the support staff at both of our facilities.
“And NSW Health loves us because they can see they are giving something back to people with disabilities, and because we have been such a reliable partner.
“We have never run short of anything. Even though we have worked with strict timelines because of stock shortages, somehow we have managed.”
Mr Silber says Ozanam supplies a number of sites including major hospitals such as Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred and Prince of Wales Hospitals, and Wollongong, Liverpool, Campbelltown and Newcastle Hospitals.
And an early call to share some of the work with the Vinnies team in Coonamble played a vital role in the recent COVID outbreak around Dubbo.
“We convinced NSW Health to send some of the work to our Coonamble site,” Mr Silber says. “That has been a revelation.
“It has not only enhanced the work of the people there with disabilities, but they also love it as it’s so different to what they do normally.
“They have helped us by assembling 200,000 kits in just three months.
“And with Dubbo two hours by car from Coonamble, when the big COVID scare came there eight weeks back it was fortuitous that we already had kits packed and ready and were able to deliver a whole lot to them.”
Mr Silber speaks proudly of his team, which normally numbers about 100 workers and is soon to rise to about 130.
“What’s astounding is in the past three months very few are working, due to lockdowns,” he says.
“In normal times some of our people don’t work every day and very few work Monday to Friday.
“So we have averaged 10 to 15 workers, and some days fewer. But we’ve managed to get through and are doing really well.”
Assembling and packing the test kits continues to be a priority in Sydney, with volunteers from the SES, the Lions and Quota clubs and local Aboriginal children involved with the Clontarf Foundation also joining staff on the production line at Coonamble.
NSW Health Pathology’s COVID-19 Operations Lead, Michael Crowther, says that at the start of the pandemic NSW Health Pathology staff were exhausted, packing the kits on top their normal workload.
“Thanks to their [Ozanam Industries’] help, we can get a steady supply of testing kits to frontline staff,” Crowther says.
“I’d like to give a big shout out and thank you to everyone who has helped, from Sydney’s Inner West and all the way out to Coonamble in Western NSW.
“It’s a great opportunity to show that people with a disability are making a meaningful contribution to the community during the pandemic.
“We couldn’t do it without their help.”