PETALING JAYA: Ordinary Malaysians are stepping up to join the front lines of the Covid-19 battle to help out wherever they can at vaccination centres and Covid-19 assessment centres.
With healthcare personnel and other frontliners fighting the raging pandemic for more than a year, these Malaysians are rallying behind them to help relieve their workload.
For Bryan Chiang, every single vaccine recipient who enters the vaccination centre he is volunteering at symbolises a new hope.
“I feel that every single dose administered, of which I am part of the process, brings hope for myself and for everyone else.
“It has been a great experience, and I feel very fulfilled doing this. I don’t want another pandemic but this is a one-of-a-kind experience that I get to be a part of,” he said.
The 35-year-old hospitality industry employee was stranded in Cameron Highlands overseeing a business project when interstate travel was banned.
Instead of feeling discouraged, he saw calls for non-health volunteers on social media and decided to sign up.
“I am mainly assisting the healthcare team in verifying details and health status of an individual on MySejahtera, but we have to be familiar with all the different stations.
“I see that a lot of people are quite nervous when they arrive, shivering and fidgeting. But when they get vaccinated, they look happy and the atmosphere seems positive.”
He acknowledged that there were some instances of frustrated people coming to the vaccination centres, but this did not mar his overall positive experience.
“The head of the vaccination centre will tell us to be patient. We only have one objective, which is to get Malaysia back on track,” he said, adding that others have also asked him how to sign up as a volunteer.
The biggest heroes, he emphasised, are the healthcare frontliners who work hard at vaccinating as many Malaysians as quickly as possible.
Chiang also said that they have been told that the non-health volunteers may have to work seven days a week, but so far for those like him at his vaccination centre, they still get their days off.
“The healthcare team, on the other hand, do not get their days off.
“A lot of doctors and nurses are on-site at the vaccination centre,” he said, adding that there is strict physical distancing in place and non-health volunteers have to wear semi-PPE (personal protective equipment).
Yusuf Danial, who is volunteering at a Covid-19 assessment centre, had immediate respect for medical personnel when he first had to put on full PPE.
“The first time I wore the PPE, I felt respect for the healthcare personnel who have to wear this for 10 to 12 hours a day. It feels very hot and like an oven (wearing the PPE), especially when we have to work in the tent outside to cater to patients,” he said.
The 22-year-old first started his volunteering stint after he graduated several weeks ago.
“I found it difficult to stay at home and do nothing while I was looking for work. I saw this on the news and so I signed up to be a non-healthcare volunteer,” he said.
For the first couple of days, he helped to register the details of the patients, but later on he helped out with crowd control.
“There are people from different countries, and there are so many of them.
“We have to wear PPE the entire time, and we cannot eat, drink or go to the toilet when we are wearing the suit or else we’ll need to put on a new one.
“The first week, my body felt so tired and I felt a little dizzy from having to wear the PPE suit. But I got used to it after a while,” he said.
Despite the physical challenges, Yusuf said he is motivated by the strong team spirit of the volunteers and healthcare personnel.
“Last time, I used to complain a lot about the Covid-19 crisis because I will say the government is not doing this or that.
“But after I joined this and I saw the entire situation, you see the patients coming here – you have sympathy for them. We are all working together to free the country of this virus,” he said.