Homeless and vulnerable people living on the Gold Coast are being offered free transport and COVID vaccinations in a bid to break down barriers to healthcare.
The Gold Coast Homelessness Network has teamed up with social workers to ensure the region's homeless are as protected as other residents during the pandemic.
On Tuesday, dozens of homeless Gold Coasters were transported to a medical clinic at Benowa for their first vaccine, with more due to take place in coming weeks.
The network hopes the same service will be offered to those in need around the state.
Transport barrier to healthcare
Troy Swindells is homeless and says accessing healthcare is one of the most common challenges of everyday life.
A lack of transport and money for appointments means hundreds like him often go without necessary care, even, at times, for chronic and life-threatening conditions.
The threat of the pandemic further highlights the vulnerability of the state's homeless, who are prevented from taking part in the regular vaccine rollouts despite a major push from state and federal governments.
Together, social and homelessness support workers in south-east Queensland have made it their mission to ensure as many vulnerable community members as possible will be vaccinated.
On Tuesday, Ryan O'Leary from the Queensland Council of Social Service said dozens of homeless and vulnerable members of the Gold Coast community were picked up by bus from a location at Labrador on the Gold Coast and brought to the Ashben Medical Clinic in Benowa to receive their vaccines.
It was the second group vaccinated so far, as part of a broader rollout.
According to Mr O'Leary, a key barrier for people accessing adequate healthcare is transport.
"This is all about supporting people to access the vaccination and manage some of the logistics of getting here and making sure people are well supported and informed."
Mr Swindells said he was pleased to be able to get his first vaccination, which would be useful for his career aspirations.
"I've been homeless for quite some time and, over the last year, I've been housed at Bryant's Place [homeless accommodation service] in Labrador," he said.
"The staff came out and said all the people over there can go for the COVID jab and so I'm here.
"It was pretty good. [It] didn't hurt — didn't hurt at all."
Hope for mobile clinics
According to Mr O'Leary, the network is aiming to vaccinate as many of the region's homeless as possible but the vaccinations are entirely voluntary.
"The first one we ran a couple of weeks ago and we had 12 people come through," he said.
"We're expecting about 30 for the next and are in organising negotiations for a third round."
Mr O'Leary says the vaccinations are not compulsory.
"It is a voluntary process so some people aren't interested while others are really grateful for the opportunity," he said
"There are efforts around Australia and around Queensland [to get homeless citizens vaccinated] but the Gold Coast is really pioneering this."
Mr O'Leary says the organisations hope to eventually offer mobile clinics to make the process easier.
"We know that there are high numbers of rough sleepers and people experiencing homelessness on the Gold Coast but then there's also lots of people who may be in supported accommodation in private rentals that are experiencing vulnerability, or people that are that are couch surfing or staying with family and friends," he said.
"So it is quite a broad category and hard to get an exact number but there's plenty of people out there that could benefit from the support.
"There's lots of services that have hubs that provide food and emergency relief and support for people and that's often where a lot of people congregate, so the goal is to be able to get the vaccinations delivered to those people too."
