Colac Otway Shire Council last night welcomed around 80 people for a Civic Thank You event to mark two years in the fight against COVID-19 in our region.
"Even when we couldn't physically come together, we did so in spirit and worked on many campaigns collectively to protect and benefit the region," said Mayor Kate Hanson. "This was a fantastic example of the strength of local communities and the power of partnerships."
These local efforts included a Community Leadership Group as the brainchild of AKD Softwoods' Shane Vicary, who contacted Colac Area Health chief executive Fiona Brew in early March 2020 to suggest a pre-emptive health, business and community collaboration to deal with the potential impact of the pandemic.
This relationship established a proactive mindset which was extremely beneficial when Colac experienced its first outbreak and assisted in driving down infection numbers, keeping the town safe and allowed business leaders and residents to forge new, lasting relationships. The group collaborated on a Keep Colac Safe campaign and evolved messaging with further campaigns as needed.
To have the messages delivered by locals, rather than authorities or politicians, helped enormously with getting the community to heed the warnings. Rather than waiting for state-led restrictions, residents put themselves into lockdown to save the most vulnerable.
"I commend the team at Colac Area Health in our response to COVID-19, and I am incredibly grateful to the community who have shown compassion and support to our staff and health service during the most challenging of circumstances we have collectively faced in our lifetime," said Ms Brew. "As a health service we have much to be proud of; as a community we have much to celebrate!"
"Colac is a special place to live because our town is not defined by the name or the physical attributes of where we live, it is defined by the community and the people that live here," said Mr Vicary. "A true community is not just about being geographic neighbours or knowing people's names, or supporting the same sports clubs. It's about feeling connected and responsible for what happens and knowing that your contribution matters. As a town and as a Community we stood together, and we cared, and we made a difference".
National news at the time also praised Colac Otway's community-led response and with the help of collective impact a serious COVID-19 outbreak was averted, no doubt saving lives, and livelihoods.
Fighting COVID-19 for our coastal communities was Great Ocean Road Health, with chief executive Sandy Chamberlin saying:
"Our initial response was to protect our staff, patients, aged care residents and community from the virus (stay home, stay safe and stay connected). As the pandemic evolved, implementing the COVID-19 Department of Health policies and procedures has become part of our landscape (get vaccinated, get tested, stay safe)," said Ms Chamberlin. "We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our staff, community and visitors for their commitment to keeping our community COVID-Safe over the last two years. With the implementation of QR codes, social distancing and hand hygiene measures in place, our exposure sites have been well managed and contained."
On hand for the Thank You event were also frontline emergency services staff, supermarket workers, healthcare workers and teachers, as well as business and community leaders who all worked together for the common good.
Council's own operational response included services and operations staff redeployed to Central Reserve for COVID-19 testing site coordination in the wildest of winter weather, Maternal Child and Health nurses continuing to do home visits to families with babies and vulnerable children.
Our cleaner James assisting police with door knocking duties to help translate for the Sudanese community during the outbreaks also displays the willingness of everyone to help keep people safe.
"Regional communities like Colac Otway Shire are full of practical, can-do people," said Mayor Hanson. "Their resilience and willingness to roll up their sleeves to help will be remembered for a very long time."
While no one is sure of what is to come in the fight against COVID-19, this event provided a pause to reflect on what we've all come through – stronger, together.
