Written in 2020
Dr Nicola Brink’s calm, clear expertise shines through at every coronavirus briefing. Just like the rest of us, the media has taken her to their hearts, both here and in the UK.
The story of Dr Brink’s career is fascinating and this Bailiwick Express interview makes clear just how incredibly lucky Guernsey is to have her as our Director of Public Health.
Chris Evans from Virgin Radio became a huge fan and praised Dr Brink on air several times:
- 3rd June 2020 : ‘She’s an absolute genius’.
- 4th June 2020: Full interview, including more detail about why Dr Brink came to live in Guernsey.
- 5th June 2020: Chris reads email from Dr Brink.
Joining Chris Evans in the UK fan club were Lorraine Kelly and Dr Hilary Jones of ITV’s Good Morning Britain. Scroll down to the bottom of this article for Lorraine’s full 6 minute interview.
Dr Brink is admired by her scientific peers too. Guernsey’s response to coronavirus was praised by Professor Sir Chris Ham on BBC Radio 5 Live at the beginning of June and Dr Brink was then interviewed by Adrian Chiles.
At the end of May 2020 The Sunday Times ran an article about Dr Brink dramatically titled ‘Covid-19 stamped out in Guernsey under the boots of a one-women army’. BBC News Online published an overall review of Guernsey’s response asking ‘What does a working ‘test and trace’ system look like?‘. The Sunday Telegraph followed the Times’s lead with their own version of the Dr Brink story entitled ‘Meet Dr Nicola Brink, the ‘one woman army’ who helped Guernsey defeat coronavirus‘ (sadly they have a paywall, but there is a free trial).
There’s even a podcast. ITV National News asked island favourite, Gary Burgess, to interview Dr Brink for their ‘Coronavirus – what you need to know‘ series.
Why no masks? How are we checking on travellers? Dr Brink patiently answered islanders’ questions on BBC Guernsey at the end of May 2020.
In early Autumn 2020, GYOne magazine interviewed Dr Brink about her experiences of lockdown.
And although not a media interview, we just had to include Dr Brink’s soothing bedtime story for the island’s children in this list. Watch here for the original version on a park bench and here for a post-lockdown live rendition at the Guille-Alles library. There was a further story at Christmas.
Your island thanks you, Dr Brink. Your fame is so well deserved. So good to hear you aren’t going anywhere:
