Staff profile - Meet Trent Smith

Trent Smith is a Ministry of Health contact tracer. He and the team are working hard to stop the spread of COVID-19 and providing much-needed advice and support to members of the community who are self-isolating. Read all about this important role at COVID-19 staff profiles.

In non-pandemic times, what is your role in NSW Health? What does that involve?

I work at the Ministry of Health’s New Ways to Work team as a communication and change officer. I am involved in relocating ten health agencies – over 2000 staff - into the new purpose-built facility at 1 Reserve Road, St Leonards.

What are you doing as part of the COVID-19 response?

Monday to Friday I do my New Ways to Work role and during the evening and weekends, I work as a contact tracer.

My role involves phoning people who have been identified as a close contact of someone who has tested positive to COVID-19. I advise them that they need to self-isolate for 14-days, the symptoms they need to look out for, and provide advice on how they can get through the 14-day isolation period.

This is particularly important for people who are elderly or those who live alone, as we do welfare checks while they’re in self-isolation and can arrange for groceries to be delivered to their home.

As part of the role we do follow-up checks with people every day, including those in hotel quarantine, to make sure they’re ok, to check if they’re experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms, and to arrange any assistance they may need.

There is a range of training provided including on-the job training as well as mentoring on how to make calls, how to enter details on national database, and how to approach and talk to the public.

Why did you get involved in contact tracing?

The call went out in February to join the contact tracing team. I’m not a doctor or a nurse so for me, contact tracing was my way of doing my bit and helping the community during this pandemic.

Why is contact tracing so important?

Contact tracing is really important as we’re shutting down the spread of COVID-19 by making sure that anyone who could be at risk of infection, is self-isolating. This ensures that our medical system isn’t inundated with the spread of the virus.

By identifying the source of an infection and by contacting people who are at risk of infection early on, before they’ve had further contact with someone who has COVID-19, we can shut down the spread.

How many people have you contacted?

Generally the team contacts over 1,000 people each week.

Have you been involved in anything like this before?

I come from a marketing background and have never been involved in anything like this before.

What’s your biggest learning to date?

The willingness of the contact tracing team to help no matter what, is remarkable. Once you enter the office, people’s previous roles are irrelevant - it’s all about supporting each other and the people on the other end of the phone.

You have good insights into what’s happening with the pandemic. What do you tell family and friends when they ask?

I tell them that COVID-19 is still in the community, so everyone still needs to be vigilant. I make sure my mother and grandmother still practise social distancing and take every precaution they can. If they have flu-like symptoms I stress the need for them to go and get tested straight away.

What’s your message to colleagues across the system?

If anyone’s considering joining the contact tracing team, take the opportunity and get involved. It’s a great team to be part of and great knowing you’re contributing to a bigger picture.