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<\/p>\nA flight attendant who lost her 33-year career to Covid redundancy is now flying high in a new role at a vaccination centre – and making sure people have a first-class experience along the way.<\/p>\n
After losing her job at Air New Zealand last year, Auckland woman Coral Davies said she had time to reflect on her future.<\/p>\n
She decided she wanted to do something positive and worthwhile for the community.<\/p>\n
Davies and hundreds of other vaccination centre workers around New Zealand have answered the call and retrained for the newly created jobs.<\/p>\n
“It is making history and it’s exciting and interesting. I wanted to do my part for something I believe in,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I work as part of an amazing team who have all come together from different roles and we have done it very quickly.”<\/p>\n
Davies and the vaccination centre workers around New Zealand are today’s Lockdown Heroes.<\/p>\n
Davies, who started in a “flow coordinator” role, was recently promoted and now leads the registration team.<\/p>\n
She has been putting her exceptional leadership and customer service skills to the important work of getting New Zealanders vaccinated.<\/p>\n
Davies has worked at two large Auckland vaccination centres and said the team runs a smooth operation with a focus on “customer experience”.<\/p>\n
“We have a lot from the travel and medical industries, some who were retired but most are from customer service roles.<\/p>\n
“We are committed to creating an upbeat environment and making sure everyone who comes in is looked after so they have a great experience.”<\/p>\n
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Skills and knowledge from her long career at Air New Zealand had been invaluable in the role, she said.<\/p>\n
Davies is proud of the streamlined system of taking people through check-in, vaccination and check-out and said it is very similar to taking a flight.<\/p>\n
“It’s all about people, and working at the vaccination centre is very much like working on an aircraft. There is just no plane there and we don’t go anywhere.<\/p>\n
“It is still moving people through a site and because it is so new they are unsure what is happening.”<\/p>\n
Making people comfortable and ensuring they had a good experience so they returned for their second Covid vaccine was essential, she said.<\/p>\n
Davies said she missed her career with Air New Zealand but said it gave her the best 33 years and she understood the company had no choice but to downsize.<\/p>\n
“I had an amazing time there, it was a huge part of my life, but I accepted it,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I felt for the talented people early in their careers who lost their jobs and I had to write references for. That was very hard.”<\/p>\n
Daughter Emily Davies said she got to see first-hand her mother’s resilience when she lost her job. She also saw how well her mother performed at work when she went in for her vaccination.<\/p>\n
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“She is so upbeat and welcoming and just puts people at ease in what can be a very unsettling time,” she said.<\/p>\n
“She treats every person who walks through the door like they are walking into business class and she coaches her team to do the same.”<\/p>\n
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Davies was so proud at her mother’s ability to stay positive and embrace a new job after 33 years with the same employer she posted a message on Twitter.<\/p>\n
“My tweet about my mum’s journey from redundancy to frontline worker in a vaccination centre has reached 19,000 people and counting,” She said.<\/p>\n
“So many people around the world have enjoyed hearing this heartwarming story about my mum’s resilience and care for people through the upheaval of Covid.”<\/p>\n