Helping the community is Maddie’s motivation

THE demand for the COVID testing tent has been no match for Bass Coast Health’s Maddie Patullo-Tonkes, who has been embracing the situation with a positive attitude.

Maddie, who is a Registered Undergraduate Student of Nursing (RUSON), has always had a passion for helping people, which has helped her get through the latest COVID outbreak and see the bigger picture.

The Sentinel-Times spoke with Maddie outside the Wonthaggi testing tent last week to hear how the experience has been and how she’s managed the hundreds of cars lining up for weeks.

Maddie started working at Wonthaggi Hospital’s testing tent in July last year but was a personal care assistant at Rose Lodge previously.

“Before that, I volunteered in the SES and worked at Coles while I started my degree,” she said.

“I’ve mainly worked at the Wonthaggi testing tent but sometimes at Cowes as well. Initially in July, it was a lot quieter, but I always enjoyed it from day one.

“It was really nice to be able to feel like I was helping during such a critical time for our healthcare system.”

But with the latest outbreak, things began to ramp up for Maddie with the holiday period.

“I got very busy around Christmas Eve, and obviously through the Christmas and New Year period it’s been quite demanding. But slowly it’s starting to ease off which is nice.”

Maddie was quick to praise Bass Coast Health’s efforts to ensure their staff are not overworked during the surge.

“We’re not doing huge crazy hours because in general, testing people is quite heavy on us,” she said.

“Especially in summer with PPE on, you really couldn’t do much more than eight hours.”

Her role at the testing tent has primarily been swabbing patients, where she has tested hundreds per day.

“We have a really good team, the pathology team collect the swabs which are taken to our hospital and then to Monash. They do three pickups a day, so thankfully we don’t end up with 400-plus swabs sitting here all day.”

While challenging, Maddie has found the experience extremely rewarding for her career so far.

“I think the pandemic has been a good thing for student nurses because it’s made us feel like we could help in such a critical time,” she said.

“I’ve found it really enjoyable, but I want to be an ED nurse and luckily, I’ve got my grad year here at Bass Coast Health. Even with the pandemic, I still want to do it.”

Maddie also had strong words of encouragement for anyone considering a nursing career, or who may be unsure about staying in the field.

“Just go for it. If you enjoy helping people, which is why I got into nursing, they need to stick with it even though it’s difficult at the moment,” she said.

“There’s a huge reward at the end, and the public have been very supportive.”