Sheree Beazley has received her fair share of abuse being a security officer during the pandemic, but still says she loves her job. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Sheree Beazley has received her fair share of abuse being a security officer during the pandemic, but still says she loves her job. Photo / Michael Cunningham
As we enter the third year of the pandemic we're running a series about the experiences of those whose work didn't stop throughout the lockdowns, Northland's essential and frontline workers.
In the fourth story, Jaime Lyth talks to the people who kept Northlanders safe through all of the social distancing,scanning and MIQ.
While a lot of Northlanders got to know the inside of their own four walls during the lockdowns, Sheree Beazley's list of lockdown workplaces is endless.
You might have seen Beazley working as a security officer at Fresh Choice, Countdown, Mitre 10, Jane Mander Retirement Village, the Whangarei Library - the list goes on.
Beazley had not long finished her study as a security officer before the pandemic began. When lockdown unfolded she was thrown into the deep end as demand for security officers shot through the roof.
"A lot of the elderly didn't understand because they are not used to changes and they get pretty anxious and don't know social distancing skills."
Security officers were often left at the forefront of enforcement as the thread of new rules, levels and traffic lights unravelled.
"A lot of people get angry because they have to wear their mask or because they don't have their vaccine passes."
But Covid has expanded Beazley's understanding of her role in the community, even if some people aren't happy with the rules she's employed to enforce.
"It's different now, I understand and I have empathy for people.
"One man, he was 96 and he had been going to the library for 33 years and he didn't have his vaccine pass, so I helped him," she said.
While working outside the library, Beazley walked locals in need of a helping hand with their vaccine pass down the road to Kowhai Pharmacy where they create them for free.
"I like to help the community, I'm always there to help them and protect them."
Beazley admitted being on the frontline made her concerned for her safety as the pandemic moves into its third year.
"I'm a bit scared of Omicron, I'm a bit worried about it. It's my job, so I just still keep going. A lot of people wouldn't want to do this job but I love my job so much.
"I think people just need to be kind to each other and understand we're going through a pandemic and it's not easy, we've just got to keep moving forward and keep carrying on with life, it's just how life is at the moment."
Born and bred Paihia girl, Amber Younger, joined the New Zealand Navy at only 17, just to be thrown into lockdown a month later. Photo / Supplied
Paihia local Amber Younger was only 17 when she became the youngest member in the New Zealand Navy two years ago.
She joined the Navy with the goal to travel the world but only a month after moving to Auckland the country went into its very first lockdown.
Those first two months were the beginning of an unimaginable start in the Defence Force for Younger.
"We've been delayed pretty much ever since that because they just need people for the borders and stuff," she said.
After lockdown rules relaxed, Younger was sent to Waiouru, at the southern end of the Desert Rd, to complete training courses.
But Covid struck again.
"That's when we went into the second lockdown and we couldn't come back up to Auckland because obviously they were in level 4 and the rest of the country was level 3. So, we had to stay down there for two months."
She spent months in and out of isolation miles away from her Far North home until she was drafted into her first defence role - MIQ - in October 2020.
Younger said it was a scary concept, becoming a frontline worker in her first year of training and coming face to face with Covid.
"The first time I went in there I was worried because you just didn't know what was going to happen. It's a bit different, but you get used to it."
In August last year, Younger was finally able to travel. She went on a communications ship deployment but the emergence of new Covid strains meant it wasn't smooth sailing.
"We went to Guam, Singapore and Sydney, but we couldn't get off at all at any of those places. We were stuck on the ship for those three months."
Amber Younger on her ship deployment for the Navy, where she wouldn't be set foot on land for three months. Photo / Supplied
These days Covid interruptions are less of a surprise and more business as usual for Younger, whose nostrils have been subjected to more than 50 Covid tests at MIQ where she is still on a six-week rotation.
"It has been hard in the last couple of years but I think it is getting better."
Younger has filled a range of roles at MIQ and currently works as an assistant one week on, one week off. Other roles saw her work six days with one day off and sometimes working throughout the night.
Younger said it can be a 50-50 toss-up with how MIQ occupants will treat her and the other staff.
"We had a guy the other week that turned up from the airport drunk as and he was just not following any of our orders."
While her beginning in the Defence Force was not what she, or anyone, could have imagined, Younger said it's pretty incredible to know she has been part of the Covid response that has set New Zealand apart from many other countries.
"It's all worth it knowing we are helping and serving our country and making a difference in the world during this tough time everyone's experiencing."
