Healthy North Coast is looking for local community leaders – both clinical and non-clinical – who are residents in the Tweed Shire or Byron Shire local government areas to be involved in a new COVID-19 vaccination initiative.
The ‘It’s Worth the Shot’ initiative is coordinated by Healthy North Coast in partnership with Consumers Health Forum of Australia. Funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, the initiative aims to increase vaccination confidence through community conversations.
These conversations are engagement sessions led by respected, credible local people in their own community and aim to establish trust and rapport between participants. Each session will be delivered by two people – a community leader alongside a clinical partner and will take place in independent, neutral and non-judgmental spaces. Using informal neighbourhood networks to engage local residents, sessions will be delivered online or face to face as part of existing community groups, forums and meetings.
What does it take to be a COVID-19 vaccination community leader?
We are seeking local people who are:
- residents of Tweed Shire or Byron Shire local government areas
- familiar with, involved in and know their community
- passionate about community health and wellbeing and supporting their community
- trusted and have good standing in their community as a local leader or clinician (or both)
- excellent communicators with great listening skills and confidence in conflict resolution and guiding solution-focused conversations
- able to build an easy rapport with others and have a genuine respect and interest in people from all walks of life and relate easily and comfortably with individuals and groups.
Clinical leads must also:
- have current registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) as a registered nurse, Aboriginal health worker, midwife, medical practitioner or pharmacist
- have a sound understanding of current COVID-19 issues and (where possible) have undertaken COVID-19 vaccination training.
What will a COVID-19 vaccination community leader be expected to do?
- Participate in 2 x 1.5 hour virtual training sessions
- Collaborate with Healthy North Coast to manage the promotion, delivery and monitoring of community conversation sessions.
- Collaborate with Healthy North Coast to plan the sessions.
- Deliver up to 2 x 1 hour sessions in their community before 17 December 2021.
- Complete monitoring schedules with support from Healthy North Coast.
COVID-19 community leaders will receive:
- financial remuneration – community leaders will be paid $600 (excluding GST) per session delivered
- training
- resources and support from Healthy North Coast to coordinate and deliver sessions.
Express your interest today
Please use the form below to submit your expression of interest by 5pm Wednesday 10 November. EOI submissions will be reviewed by a panel.
This is a great chance for you to positively influence our region and make a difference in protecting our communities from COVID-19.