This newly established charity ensures frontline healthcare workers are well fed, while helping Covid-affected hospitality business stay afloat.
On 16th March 2020, just before Scott Morrison shut down the international borders and the pandemic truly took hold of global headlines, Joeline Hackman was becoming increasingly aware of how difficult it was for her nursing friends to get groceries after they had finished their shifts at work.
“Supermarket shelves were empty. The medical staff were doing longer shifts as patient demand started to surge, and they were worried they might at any stage be bringing home a deadly mystery virus to their families,” Joeline says. “At the same time, local hospitality businesses were struggling as lockdowns and isolation mandates were put in place, and they needed cashflow support to keep their businesses afloat.”
Seeing the urgent need and instant ability to solve two crucial issues with one solution, Joeline and three other mums gave birth to Feed Our Medics. “The charity connects our overworked, and undernourished healthcare workers with struggling cafes that have been Covid-affected.”
Since March 2020, Feed Our Medics have been organising nutritious meals with local cafés, and carefully screening them for Covid-safe practices during the pandemic waves. “It’s a mammoth logistics operation but it’s the least we can do to show some solidarity for our healthcare workers.” The meals are then delivered to frontline healthcare workers across Greater Sydney, reaching staff across NSW including the hospitals of Northern Beaches, Liverpool, Fairfield, RPA, Prince of Wales, Royal North Shore, Nepean, Mona Vale, and Westmead, as well as ambulance stations and testing centres across Sydney.
Recently delivering their 2000th meal, Feed Our Medics has not paused to celebrate, instead making every effort to highlight the ongoing challenges healthcare workers face, “While the hospitals, both public and private, are adamant there is no problem, and the government says that numbers are below forecast, nurses feel like they are not being listened to. They report being fed up with poor staffing and excessive overtime. They’re burning out trying to cover the rostering shortfalls. Most alarmingly, a large proportion of nurses are planning on leaving the profession entirely. Who will pick up the pieces then? How will our medical system function if there’s a mass exodus of quality nursing staff?”
Making matters worse, the 2019 promise of a 2.5% pay rise failed to materialise. Instead, wages were frozen once the pandemic hit, before an eventual 0.3% salary boost dribbled through. An insult, considering the additional trauma, hours, stress and discomfort in PPE that nurses have endured. Joeline suggests that nurses are given a monthly pandemic bonus that is commensurate with their risk and indexed to hours worked that month. France offers a 1000 Euro stipend to nurses to acknowledge their sacrifices. The French government also gave nurses a significant pay rise last July.
“While 2000 meals and coffee at hospitals across the country is great, we could go much further to improve the working conditions and wages for the heroes still left in this industry. Healthcare workers, nurses especially, deserve better conditions and better pay.”
To help ensure better conditions and pay, and to retroactively reward the nurses who had their pay frozen, please sign the petition posted on Feed Our Medics Facebook @FeedourMedics