Published Tuesday 4 August 2020 at 14:30
As part of the Council’s Worker Bee campaign, staff working across different departments are sharing their stories on adapting their roles during the Coronavirus outbreak.
This week we are highlighting the work of Tabitha Kavoi, who is a Speciality Registrar for our Public Health department.
Tabitha, originally from Kenya, has featured on Kenyan national TV and BBC Africa, and has been writing articles for the Ministry of Health about lessons learnt from the coronavirus outbreak and her experiences.
“I’m all about giving back – and speaking to the media in my home country felt like my little contribution,” says Tabitha.
The media opportunities came about when BBC London reached out for someone who spoke Swahili.
Prior to the Coronavirus outbreak Tabitha would typically be working on longer term projects such as obesity studies and liver disease studies – but was asked to help care homes.
Tabitha, who now lives in Preston, said:
Everything I was doing was put on hold. Because of COVID-19 I was asked to work with the care homes and work with the infection control teams. It was completely different to what I was doing before.
I was worried, thinking will I be able to give them the right advice? Will I be able to do the right thing? Will I manage? Will the calls be too much? Will there be too many?
It was very personal. When you pick up that phone and speak to a care home manager and you realise that it’s the care home residents, PPE and testing they’re worried about. Getting all of that sorted for them is the most rewarding part of the role.
Tabitha is now helping the council to put together an outbreak management plan, in case of a second wave and said she will definitely pursue health protection and outbreak management.
She added:
I’m the kind of person who does my job, and wants to know that I’ve done it well.