Lily George, 18, was one of a team of "Patient Navigators" recruited by the Medical Centre to help with booster clinics. They worked alongside the existing staff booking appointments, preparing & logging vaccines, and updating records once patients had received their boosters.

From Lily:

"For me, the most difficult facet of the pandemic was the initial uncertainty surrounding the danger presented by COVID-19 itself and, like many, the implications it would have on my family. The pressure experienced by the NHS directly affected my mum, a palliative care nurse at Dorset County Hospital. Unsure of what was to come my parents agreed that contact with Mum should, in the first wave, be limited to daily distanced walks. The gravity of the virus and its management meant that palliative care, like so many specialties, had never been more important.

Once scientific research improved and the vaccine had been developed, life seemingly resumed as I finished my A Levels, attended festivals, and moved to university. This transitional period of adolescent change was relatively normal – COVID-19 no longer foregrounded my life. On returning for the Christmas holidays however, an opportunity to support the ongoing COVID-19 booster clinics in Bridport presented itself. This wasn’t just an employment opportunity but enabled me to personally contribute to the national effort in limiting the impact of the COVID-19 within my local community.

Working for the NHS, albeit on a temporary basis, offered me an insight into the inherent humanism present within the organisation. The collaborative nature of community on the frontline, within the workforce itself and amongst those receiving their boosters was liberating. Holding the vaccine was a tangible reminder that, in my own small way, I was part of something that would be remembered for decades to come. Whilst the pandemic has largely been considered a negative experience, infiltrated with mortality, loss and unmitigated emotion, my time spent supporting vaccinators outlined the positivity exhibited by the most resilient in society. I found that I’d never been prouder of my mum."