A note from Brigitta Harvey...

Hi All,

Please don't put this email to the side for later on because we need
to ask for your help now as we have had huge problems getting the
magazine delivered and it's only just arrived this morning - too late
for our ad for next week's seminar in Sydney to arrive.

So far, we have pre-booked 200+ seats which is fantastic and means
that we are covering our expenses - just. But the hall holds more
than 400 and I would love for this seminar to sell out because the
information that will be heard on the evening is wonderful and we
will not be holding another seminar in the Sydney area for at least
12 months.

Attached to this message is an email version of the flyer promoting
this seminar. Can I please ask you all to save this flyer to your
computer and then, send it to 10 people in your email list and as
them to send it to 10. It doesn't matter if those people are in
Sydney - they will send it out and eventually, we will have people in
Sydney who will see this information. Help us make this a sold-out
event!

If you don't know how to add an attachment to an email, here is a
basic instruction that should work for most email packages. Somewhere
on this email, depending upon how you have your programme set up, you
will see either the file itself or a paper-clip to indicate an
attachment. Right click on the file or click on the paperclip and you
should be given an option to open or save to your computer. Choose
the option to save and put the file on your desktop so it is easy to
find later.

Then, start a new email message and put in the email address of
whoever you want to send the message to - try for 10 - more would be
even better :-) Then, either click on the paper clip on the toolbar
at the top of your email window or go to Insert on the menu bar and
select "file". That will open a window from which you can navigate to
your desktop. Double click on the file you saved there and just send.
Pretty easy I hope - let's get the grass roots support happening for
this event and hopefully, we can repeat it over and over again in
capital cities all over Australia and some regional areas as well!

Also, we have nobody to film the event so if you do know of someone
in Sydney who would be willing to film this for us, please let me
know ASAP.

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A GREAT VICTORY - AND YOU HELPED AND CAN HELP MORE!

First of all, I have to say right here that it has been an incredible
privilege to have worked over the last few weeks, with an amazing and
powerful young woman named Brigitta Harvey. She is the nursing
student and registered nurse who has taken on the establishment who
have told her to vaccinate or get out. I am proud to reveal to you
now that Brigitta has won her battle. But not only has she won it,
she won it for all of the other students in NSW who also want to
learn to help others and work within the hospital system but don't
want to put their health and lives at risk by taking vaccines they
feel are more harmful than good.

The battle is won but the war continues as this decision will not
extend to the other states and territories nor, I fear, will it
prevent employers in other sectors as well as the military from
exercising undue force to make people vaccinate.

I will paste Brigitta's own words below so you can read it for
yourself but I also have to let you know that there were several
developments which were not covered in Brigitta's summary and some
things happened after she had written it.

Brigitta has been given permission in writing to do her practical
work to complete her degree. Her situation is slightly different than
many others because she was already employed by the hospital in
question and therefore, she had a bit more leverage to push her
demands that she be allowed to complete her practical work.

As a result of her victory however, all students who are doing
practical work in hospitals and universities all across NSW will now
be able to do their work without fear of forced vaccination - as long
as they know about this, that is!

You see, it is my belief, that the hospital gave in to shut Brigitta
up. They probably feel that since she won this battle, she will just
quietly fade into the background and there won't be any problems.

They are wrong, of course, because Brigitta refused to cut a deal
with them unless the arrangement included all current and future
students as well as those who are currently employed. How is that for
courageous?

But if nobody knows about this, students will still be told that they
can't get through without their shots and no one will be the wiser.
So - let every doctor, nurse, chiropractor, homoeopath and student
you know about this decision. Again, perhaps you'd like to forward
this email to 10 or more people and ask them to forward it on as
well?

We have so much power and strength if we stand together. There is no
way we can ever be beaten. It is only if we feel weak and helpless
that we will indeed lose this battle and all others. Feel your
strength! Know your power and help to spread this vital message as
far as you can. Look at Brigitta Harvey who did this all on her own
at the ripe old age of 21!

And now, on to Brigitta herself: (Please note - I have deleted all
names as I am unsure if we could be sued for naming these people.)

Hey Meryl,

Please note that the quotes in here are not exact as I cannot
remember the situations word for word, however I have tried to
explain very simply what I remember I was told. I decided to do it in
chronological order from the very beginning, so here goes.

Last semester - I, along with all the other students who were to
attend placement within Northern Sydney Central Coast Health (NSCCH),
was informed early on in the semester, that at least 2 weeks prior to
the placement I needed to present my immunisation record card, Child
protection form and other important documents to a lady who worked
for the area health service named ___________. As I knew that I may
face difficulties with my immunisation choices, I spoke with _______
and explained that I wasn't going to be able to show her a completed
immunisation record card as I had chosen not to be immunised. She
then instructed me to complete a statutory declaration which stated
that I was aware of the risks that I may be taking and that I would
take responsibility for any illness I may contract that may be
related to my immunisation status. So I did as she said.

When I presented this to Sandra, she then stated that it is NSW
Health 'Law' that I would not be allowed to go on prac (practical
work) unless I:
. Presented to her a completed immunisation record card

Or

. Showed her a document written by the Nursing Unit Manager (NUM) of
Wyong's surgical ward 1 (S1) stating that I was allowed to do prac on
their ward despite my immunisation status (as this is where I was
supposed to be attending placement for 2 weeks)

As she said it was the law I asked her if I could see this law in
writing, and she was unable to show me this as she did not know it
herself. All she showed me was the same letter (which all students
received at beginning of semester) which stated that it is NSW Health
law that we are vaccinated prior to their placement (Note: some other
students who also tried to refuse their vaccines had asked to see
this law and were also unable to see it on paper!!) This made me very
angry.

I then spent the next few days trying to contact the following
people: The NUM (Nursing Unit Manager) of S1 at Wyong, the DON
(Director of Nursing) (for Wyong hospital) and NSW Health to locate
this 'so called' law.

It took a few days to get in contact with the NUM and when I did
speak with her, she then went away and discussed the situation with
the DON. A phone call later confirmed that 'after much consideration
it would be too risky to both the patients and myself for me to
attend my placement, and after all, it is NSW Health Law' (in a
nutshell).

During this time I was also trying to get hold of the DON to explain
my situation and gain permission to attend her hospital (keeping in
mind that when I trained as an enrolled nurse in '04', I attended one
of my 8 week placements also at Wyong hospital 'un-vaccinated'). This
was a difficult task and I think it was only once that I briefly
spoke to her. This was after I was told several times (by her
secretary) that she would contact me and did not. Most of the
communication was through her secretary and this made me very unhappy
as I just wanted to hear it from the DON herself. When the DON
finally contacted me, the news was what I thought- Discrimination.

When I attempted to contact the NSW Health headquarters in Sydney, I
was shipped around over the phone to about 6 different departments,
all of whom were unhelpful. I did however get in contact with the NSW
Health worker based on the central coast who informed me of the
policy 2005_338 which states that students 'must' be vaccinated
before working within the hospitals. She also stated that this policy
is due to change soon ('in the next few weeks') so that it will
encourage/enforce NSW Health employees be vaccinated. (From the way
she explained it, it sounded like the policy will eventually become
mandatory for all employees to be fully immunised or else they will
not/no longer be employed) editor's note - this is indeed the case
with the current policy which affects only students in 2006 but all
hospital employees as well as students in 2007.

I was sickened by the fact that it was law and that the hospitals
could abide by such a discriminatory policy which so obviously
removes an individual's rights to choose whether an invasive medical
procedure is performed on their body.

I approached ________ once again in support of my placement, and did
so several times in the last week. Most of the time, these meetings
ended in tears as she treated me with little or no sympathy nor did
she seem to understand my situation, nor could she direct me anywhere
else to get help. Thus my placement was officially cancelled the
Friday before the Monday commencing placement.

Second Semester after all placements have been completed (by those
who were allowed to attend)

Mon 31st July - Daily Telegraph featured my story/situation
(editor's note - this article was in the last issue of Doing the
Rounds)
- Katie from Newcastle Uni contacted me stating that I needed to
inform her when I do anything further with the media and told me that
it was the NSW Health policy which was stopping me from attending
placement and not the Uni. I understood where she was at and let her
know that I would inform her of anything further.

Wed 2nd August AM - Had an interview with Matthew from Newcastle
Herald, explaining that it was NSW Health policy which was delaying
my placements and that it was the hospital which refused to accept me
(NSCCH, even though I was already employed as an Enrolled Nurse in
this area health).

PM - Matthew called back and explained that
he had spoken to a NSCCH Gosford sector public relations worker who
explained to Matthew that 'surely they could work something out'
and 'surely we didn't refuse her' (Matthews words to me, not direct
quotes). I explained that this is the first leniency that they have
shown toward me since the beginning of the issue. I was very upset
that it had to be their fear of the media that brought about change
on their part.

Thurs 3rd August - Went in person to the Public relations building to
locate the person who had spoken with Matthew and to find out what
understanding he had of the situation. One of the women in the office
located him on his mobile so I could speak with him. The conversation
was a bit of a blur as I did not quite nderstand where he was coming
from. I think that he was under the understanding that it was a Uni
problem, however he directed me to see the manager of NSCCH Human
Resources (I never ended up there as the situation changed quickly).

About an hour later, I received a phone call from the DON of Gosford
Hospital, ___________who insisted on 'sorting the situation out'. Her
understanding was also that it was a 'uni thing' and that she would
speak to them to produce some sort of agreement between the students
who are conscientiously objecting to immunisations and the university
that the students can sign if they wish. She also advised me that she
would be happy to accept me for any placements within Gosford
hospital and that 'she cant see why not as I was already one of her
employees'. I asked her if the same would go for the rest of the area
health (particularly Wyong as they refused me) and she stated that
she brought my situation up in a board meeting that the DON of Wyong
was attending and she felt that she felt the same. And then my
greatest concern.for future students who choose the same pathway as
me, will this apply to them also? Veronica agreed that this decision
has been made with future students i
n mind as well.

This is what it has come to presently, however I do want things to
change beyond Newcastle uni and NSCCH. Supporting and encouraging me
through all of this has been the AVN. Thanks so much for encouraging
me not to give up and helping me to fight for a greater cause.

Brigitta Harvey