As the pandemic loomed, staff on the frontline of Albury Wodonga Health's COVID response knew something bad was coming, but had no idea what they were in for.
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"It's hard to prepare for a tsunami when you don't know how that tsunami is going to look," COVID services team leader Linda Todhunter said.
Infection control consultant Leisa Bridges describes setting up the testing service as building the plane while you're trying to fly it. From a skeletal two-shipping container set up to a purpose-built tented facility, the clinic itself and its processes have constantly changed in the past seven months.
Everyone is exhausted because this year is exhausting...I think if anything we've worked harder this year than we have at any other time...
- Linda Todhunter
At first people suspected of having COVID-19 were tested in their homes by Mrs Bridges and her team.
When the demand for that became too great Albury Wodonga Health set up a swabbing room at the Vermont Street clinic before moving across the street to the drive-through clinic.
When Mrs Bridges first saw images of international COVID drive-through clinics, she thought it was a bit funny but the early adoption of the service was a game changer locally.
"We actually had a bit of a laugh... we thought it was all a bit silly but then we thought, actually it is a great idea because that way we can keep our staff safe keep our patients in their vehicle," she said.
"It was one of our biggest game changers to be able to swab a large volume of patients to really detect who in our community had COVID and to really manage them after that.
"It all happened really quickly, it was amazing, there was a huge team effort behind it."
At its peak the clinic was swabbing up to 120 patients a day, all while its PPE-donned staff braved the elements in the exposed drive-through.
"PPE can be hot but in winter it was freezing," Mrs Todhunter said.
"In summer, it's sweltering. No matter what you've got on, you're sweltering. We're conscious you can't have a wind tunnel because then you're blowing germs everwhere.
"The girls have been resilient, thermals have been really good.
"What we do is have a very clear routine about fatigue management, the maximum we're out swabbing is usually an hour then we swap teams in and out."
Right now, Mrs Todhunter and her regular team of nurses at the Wodonga COVID clinic "feel solid" if a bit weary.
"Everyone is exhausted because this year is exhausting," Mrs Todhunter said.
"I think if anything we've worked harder this year than we have at any other time, but it's been good.
"I think we're really conscious this has been exhausting for every executive in AWH. There were meetings every day, there were demands from DHHS...
"I think everyone has been running on empty only because we've been doing it for seven months. People are taking leave, getting a bit more refreshed because it's quiet right now, we've got plans in place and everyone feels like they can breathe."
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Before the pandemic hit, Mrs Todhunter was an educator on the hospital floor in charge of undergraduate and graduate nurses.
Initially Mrs Todhunter was redeployed to teaching donning and doffing (how to correct put on and take off) PPE to staff, before she moved to the drive-through clinic.
The nurse and educator of 38 years turned COVID service director manages potentially infected patients and worried staff daily.
It's been a journey of procedures and personal lives, with Mrs Todhunter determined to keep open and ongoing communication with her staff. Everyone working in the drive-through clinic put their hand up to be there, and during the peak of the first wave a psychologist was visiting staff regularly.
"When we first walked in in March we had no idea what the implications were going to be," she said.
"Nurses are pretty resilient about rolling up their sleeves and giving it a hand, but you had to think about who you had at home.
"I've had a conversation with each of them about who is at home and how they are feeling about that.
"We've just had a new staff member join, she has two little children and I remember her absolutely going 'What do I do? How am I feeling?' And we've all gone on that journey because we've all felt like that, it's a beautiful team sort of thing."
Mrs Todhunter said anything the clinic has asked for, AWH executives have supported and provided.
COVID services nurse unit manager Caroline Grealy said she feels safe when working, but it hasn't stopped her parents worrying though.
"It's an interesting feeling going home knowing you have essentially come into contact with some people that might have COVID," she said.
"My parents worry immensely that I'm on the frontline. But the thing I say back to them is I'm actually more protected than most, if you go to the supermarket you're far less protected than me sitting at work.
"I know I'm more exposed but I feel very protected coming to work and our standards are high."
In fact the standard at the Wodonga drive-through clinic is so high staff often critique the procedures of their metropolitan counterparts who go car-to-car in the same PPE.
In Wodonga, PPE is changed after every swab to ensure there is no risk of transmitting the virus from one car to another.
"We've always had the goal at the centre of it to look after our community and look after our staff that's been the core of it," Mrs Bridges said.
Before joining the COVID drive through clinic, Mrs Grealy was working in the Wodonga emergency department.
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She recently helped set up and develop Albury Wodonga Health's COVID tracing team, something she never thought she'd be doing.
"This is honestly a once in a lifetime thing you just do not expect to go through this, we will never see anything like this again," she said.
"I remember saying to my family earlier, this is terrible what the world is going through but what an interesting time to be alive.
"It really is an interesting time to be here and see what's happening and how we need to adapt to it. I honestly never thought I'd have to do this or be in a position to have to do this."
Mrs Grealy said she sincerely hopes the 22-person strong contact tracing team will never be needed, but said the processes developed during the pandemic will help for generations to come. She said the community's gratitude and generosity towards frontline workers had been overwhelming.
Every time Mrs Todhunter sticks a swab deep into someone's nostril, they thank her.
It's a bizarre form of country hospitality she laughs.
"For people coming through you stick a swab up their nose and they cough and splutter and say thank you," she said.
"Everyone says thank you, it feels like we're only doing our job. It's humbling because they say 'Thank you you're on the front line' because we've been doing it for so long we don't feel like we're on the front line."
Mrs Todhunter said the swabbing clinic was only one part of a vast network of important departments and services within Albury Wodonga Health. She said without all of them and the community's efforts the service would be pointless.
"I am sick of COVID though," Mrs Todhunter laughed. "We talk about it every day, we wake up and every day it's COVID."
Right now, things feel okay at the COVID clinic, the frontline of the pandemic.
"We know we're in for the long haul," Mrs Todhunter said.
A few quiet weeks means staff have been able to breathe, train and prepare.
"We can't do it without our community," Mrs Grealy said. "With the community being so responsive and so accountable it's enabled us to be in the position we are now, we're able to have these systems and structures really, really solid because we haven't had to be busy dealing with actual community transmissions and chasing our tail."
The plane is built, now it's just a matter of staying the course.