| F E AT U R E
WORKING IN ISOLATION The largest deployment in Op Protect are the personnel working in Managed Isolation Quarantine Facilities (MIQFs) at designated hotels located around the country.
W
hile each hotel works slightly differently, our personnel provide facilities management and administrative support that allows key government agencies to focus on their roles in managing the safe return of New Zealanders from overseas. Each facility has a military manager, coordinator and two assistants. They work alongside nurses, security staff, police and hotel staff. The personnel ensure smooth arrivals into the accommodation, departures and sometimes transfers to specialised facilities if a returnee is showing symptoms of Covid-19.
The whole experience resonated with SQNLDR Singh, who said it was the best deployment he had been sent on. “I’m not going to war, I’m never going to be in a position to be in that situation. For me to help the country, this is the best opportunity possible, to do what we are trained for.
MIQF manager Squadron Leader (SQNLDR) Charanjit Singh said the main attributes needed for the role was empathy and displaying “soft skills”.
“It’s important that the public sees us going on operational deployment. This is one of the opportunities where they see us up front, doing things.”
“Empathy was necessary because many people have come in from a long flight, they’re tired and sometimes arriving quite late. All they want to do is get into the hotel, get into their rooms and settle in. Later on, the feedback we got was they were very positive about having military around.”
MIQF manager Squadron Leader (SQNLDR) Gareth Russell said he was humbled to be able to work with such a competent, close-knit team at the Rydges in Auckland, where he was based.
As a multilingual speaker, SQNLDR Singh said being able to speak Hindi and Punjabi was useful for guests from India who did not know much English.
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“There was a gentleman and his wife who arrived and his wife was not well. She had to transfer to hospital, where she died. That gentleman was obviously very lonely. When I arrived there were some language barriers, but I could speak in Punjabi, so I was able to sit down and talk with him.”
“The most rewarding part of it was just feeling like you were helping out. There was one man who was feeling anxious because he had some tenants in a home that he was trying to get to,
