When COVID-19 cases started to spiral in Australia last March, Wollongong Hospital staff took swift action - setting up a dedicated COVID ward over a weekend.
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The next day, the first COVID patient was admitted as an inpatient.
On Wednesday, almost 12 months to that day, staff were on the move again as they worked to revert the COVID-only ward back to a general surgical ward.
The dedicated ward is no longer needed, thanks to low rates of community transmission - and the national rollout of COVID vaccines.
For Wollongong Hospital general manager Nicole Sheppard - and her staff - the move back was routine, but it signified so much.
"This signals to staff, to patients and visitors and the wider community that this is the start of us returning to business as usual at the hospital - of getting back to pre-pandemic operations," she said.
"Of course we still maintain the capacity, the equipment and the trained staff to immediately respond to any potential COVID issues, including rising infection rates.
"That includes maintaining an annex at Wollongong where patients pending COVID results are managed. And if we needed to revert back to COVID-only wards and intensive care units we could do that very quickly."
Ward A5 was chosen as the COVID-only ward due to its proximity to the emergency department, and lifts that could be isolated for patients only. It was also close to operating theatres and the ICU.
The move to a COVID dedicated space was complex - requiring specialised equipment, extensive staff training and massive infection control measures.
ICU capacity also quadrupled at the hospital in those first few months of the pandemic, with a COVID-only ICU also established
Ms Sheppard praised the courage of those admitted to these spaces, and the strength of their loved ones.
"It's a harrowing and heartbreaking time for anyone to have someone in ICU, but particularly in the COVID environment with no visiting allowed," she said.
"As hard as we tried to help them communicate through technology, it was not the same as being able to sit beside someone you've spent a lifetime with and hold them at such a critical time."
The day one gentleman, who'd spent five weeks on a ventilator in the ICU, was discharged was the most memorable for staff.
"I don't think that feeling was one nursing or medical staff had ever felt before," Ms Sheppard said. "To see him reunite with his family and safely leave the hospital was remarkable - it was a very proud moment."
Ms Sheppard also applauded the staff who worked through such a challenging year.
Staff like Svetlana Bosevski - the nurse unit manager of the COVID ward - who was in charge of setting up the dedicated ward, and this week ensuring its smooth return to caring for surgical patients.
She also had to oversee the return of the area that had accommodated the surgical patients during COVID (C6 West Surgery), back to a space for chronic and complex rehabilitation and palliative care.
"We've worked as a team from the start - and that trust and teamwork has been vital to ensure we keep ourselves and our patients safe," Ms Bosevski said.
"Patients weren't coming in just with COVID, they had medical conditions that warranted their admission and we needed to treat them holistically.
"We also had to set up good communication strategies with their families to ensure they were kept informed on how they were going."
Fortunately only a small number of COVID patients needed to be cared for in the ICU, but the ward saw up to 18 patients at a time.
"Everyone - the nurses, doctors, allied health professionals and more - knew what their role was and how to conduct it safely," she said.
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