HM Coastguard lends helping hand with COVID-19 vaccination programme rollout

HM Coastguard is continuing to provide support to NHS Western Isles as part of the ongoing vaccination programme on the Outer Hebrides and NHS Highland, assisting in COVID-19 Testing in Skye and Lochaber.

Coastguard Rescue Service Teams and Duty Officers have been lending a helping hand at the mass vaccination clinics at Stornoway, Tarbert (Harris), Balivanish (Uist) and Castlebay (Barra) in the Western Isles.

This work has helped to ensure that the sites run effectively and smoothly for those people who are attending appointments for either their first or second doses of Coronavirus vaccines.

Coastguard teams are also providing a dedicated patient transport service to take those who would otherwise be unable to attend appointments, due to lack of transport, into these clinics. 

Coastguard Rescue Teams in Skye and Lochaber are also working closely and in partnership with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service at COVID-19 testing stations in Skye and Lochaber – helping to ease any logistical challenges. 

Murdo Macaulay, HM Coastguard Operations Area Commander for the Western Isles, Skye and Lochaber, said: “There’s so much community spirit in the Western Isles and it’s important that we do all we can to support the NHS with the successful Coronavirus vaccine rollout. 

“Our dedicated volunteer Coastguard Rescue Officers have been working hard for a number of months to not only ensure that the clinic is operating effectively, but also assist in the transportation of completed COVID-19 tests across the Western Isles chain and the provision of additional aid at testing sites.”

Murdo added: “We’re proud to be doing whatever we can to help people and the communities in which we serve during this difficult period of time and, as normal, we’re always ready to respond to incidents with our dedicated, 24/7 search and rescue service. I would really like to express my thanks and gratitude to all our teams and volunteers for their unwavering commitment to the cause.”

NHS Western Isles Chief Executive, Gordon Jamieson, said: “We are indebted to our partner agency colleagues, HM Coastguard, who have been an essential part of the team to deliver the vaccination programme in the Western Isles. It’s an enormous team effort to plan and deliver a mass vaccination clinic, and we are hugely grateful for their ongoing invaluable input and their continued support to the programme and to the patients attending.”

NHS Highland Chief Executive, Pam Dudek, said: “I am very grateful to everyone at our partner agencies, including HM Coastguard, for their hard work in supporting the COVID-19 response and for providing assistance to our local communities with the testing programme. Our HM Coastguard colleagues bring with them a wide range of specialised skills and their assistance is greatly appreciated.”

Popular posts from this blog

Label your kit at the coast

Image
Kayaks. Canoes. Paddleboards. What do they all have in common? They’re quite often found on the coastline or drifting out to sea. And if we don’t know who they belong to, we can spend time searching for an owner when they’re home safe and sound. So please help us to help you. Label your kit so that if you do get separated from it, and it turns up somewhere, we can get hold of you. In recent weeks, our Coastguard Rescue Teams have found numerous items such as kayaks and canoes drifting out at sea or abandoned near the shoreline. Unfortunately, some of the items we have found have not had their owners’ contact details written on them nor been reported as missing to the Coastguard. As a result, it makes it difficult for us to find out who it belongs to and also means we can never be completely sure if someone is safe or in the worst case, in trouble at sea. This can place a huge strain on our resources especially during the busy summer period when we have to call upon our Coastgua
Read more

A short history of HM Coastguard

Image
Today HM Coastguard is a world leader in maritime search and rescue. Looking back almost 200 years, the goods, which now travel by road, were carried by hundreds of small ships. Year in year out dozens of ships and hundreds of lives were lost within sight of the coast. Public shock and dismay at the tragedies drove forward the creation of national life saving organisations. Though it’s beginnings lie in those decades HM Coastguard originated not to meet the dangers of the seas but to combat a threat to the country’s economy and security – smuggling. As soon as medieval taxes were charged on imports and exports, people began smuggling. By 1743 th e estimate was that half the tea drunk in Britain was illegally imported and shows that smuggling was highly profitable. Smugglers have often been romanticised but the reality was brutal. Local people lived in fear, with violent reprisals on informers and the murder of revenue officers, while corruption enabled smugglers to evade harsh p
Read more

BOSCASTLE FLOODS: TEN YEARS ON

Image
Boscastle Flooding 16 th August 2004 The storms of Monday 16 August 2004 saw three weeks worth of rain fall in one day. The resulting water began to be funnelled down the valleys surrounding Boscastle and soon the steep roads became rivers. By the time that the water reached the picturesque village, it had picked up enough momentum to become a raging torrent, sweeping into buildings, washing cars away and felling huge trees. Graham King runs the Witches Museum in Boscastle and was also the station officer for the Boscastle Coastguard Rescue Team at the time of the floods: “ My museum is situated next to the harbour near the river ,” says Graham “ and I can see the coastguard equipment store from there. Initially I was concerned that the vehicle and equipment were going to become stranded but I soon began to realise how quickly the situation was deteriorating and called Falmouth Coastguard ” From that point on the villagers and tourists stranded in flood waters were he
Read more