#27 - An Ode to the Cold Chain

Ode to the Cold Chain
All stop thee for the charter of the skies which brings forth great wonders from down south,
low, it is with sad regret that this morning my chin did drop , and agape was my mouth.
for upon the winged stead which adorned us with its delivery just last night
was a grail of polystyrene, which held sacred contents, needing refrigeration,
Yet with nay haste was it brought forth unto the clinic, and its contents, delegate and costly vaccines, perished under the might of the Torres heat.

Woe to us that discovered such foul and foetid breech, and was made fast to have to report the potential loss of a multitude of treasures.  Yet with orchestrated precision, such err was thwarted by some quick cognition and the hand of God.

....   Oh what a load of rubbish...Here is the drill.  Vaccines must stay between 2 and 8 degrees from the time that they leave the supply department in Brisvagus, to the time that they are in our hands.  They arrive by a chartered plane, via Cairns, Thursday Island and then on up to the verious clinics that store them prior to administration.  Each Esky is packed a special way with a digital thermometer that records the minimum and maximum temperature of the contents of the esky (the vaccines).  Well last night at 5pm, the charter flight delivered the vaccines.  They got picked up at the airstrip, and then...somehow, the esky was left in the boot of the car!!   Now those in the know will tell you that this represented a massive Cold Chain procedure breech.  On arrival of the vaccines here, they should have been immediately packed into a specialised vaccine fridge.

This morning I enquired as to whether the Vaccines had arrived as yet, and some folks swallowed hard....whoops.  The Esky containing thousands of dollars of medication was still in the boot!!!
It was 10 am before this was discovered.  I thecked the contents of the box, and assessed the Min/Max thermometer.....DAMN!!!   4-10 degrees....breech!!!  Protocol has it that I had to phone through to Brisbane and Thursday Island Public Health Unit and report the breech.   They were very good about it, and directed me to the next procedure.  The Vaccines needed to be quarantined with a DO NOT USE sign until further notice.

Thank fully God was smiling at us, the phone soon rang, and the good news was that because the vaccines hadnt got warmer than 10 degrees, there were still viable.  Lesson learned!

The thing that I love about the Torres is that every day is a new challenge, and a new thing to learn.  In my silo that is the Toowoomba based educator job; there exists a sence that you know what you need to know.  But you step out of your comfort zone, and into a completely different field, and realise that you are just a sterile Agar plate waiting to be colonized with new and exotic knowledge.  I love these experiences.

This week end I am on call.  Ben the other relieving nurse flies home to Adelaide tomorrow.  Annie the permanent nurse (who has been on Thursday Island at some training) will return to work on Tuesday.
I bit of reef walking, and a spot of fishing, and perhaps even a swim might be on the cards this week end.  But one thing is for sure, It will be another weekend of new and amazing experiences, upon which I build my perspectives, and knowledge.

Youve got to love the Torres!
Yawo !