Splash of colour a cheerful addition during testing times

Nurse/seamstress: Combine those talents and you've got 'trend-setting' scrub caps made by nurse Katy Kilvington and being worn by doctors and nurses at the temporary assessment centre set up at the War Memorial Theatre. Picture supplied

Katy Kilvington is a colourful nurse.

She is based at the War Memorial Theatre Covid-19 testing station, where she has used her nursing and sewing skills — the latter the reason for why the staff are wearing colourful cloth scrub caps.

Doctors and nurses are wearing the scrub caps as part of their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The medical professionals have sufficient access to scrub caps made by their normal suppliers but the “discerning doctors and trend-setting nurses'' decided the new-look caps would provide a cheerful addition to their day.

Katy said her colleagues liked her scrub caps because they come down a little on the forehead.

“Some of the female staff have top knots so need a little more depth in their scrub caps.”

She used to be a keen sewer.

“I showed staff some of my old home-made scrub caps and there was some interest, so I made some new ones.”

Katy, a casual nurse and one of 12 nurses who work at the testing station, said she never hesitated when the opportunity arose to work there. She previously worked in pre-admittance orthopaedics and the Day of Surgery Unit at Gisborne Hospital.

“I was asked if I would consider coming here,” she said. “I thought ‘yes, I am an experienced nurse with a gargantuan range of skills and that's what I can do'.”

Towards the end of last week, more than 300 people in Tairawhiti had been tested for Covid-19.

“They have been very appreciative of what we are doing and very respectful and responsive to our instructions,” said Katy.

■ TWENTY-one people yesterday took advantage of the new Covid-19 testing regime, which means a GP referral is no longer required. In all, 27 people turned up at the War Memorial Theatre assessment centre yesterday, taking the total number of tests done to date in Gisborne to 460. About 30 people a day were turning up at the centre before Easter weekend.