Australians are not strangers to adversity. In our wide sunburnt land we've faced everything Mother Nature can throw at us and we'll face it again.

At the start of most years towns have become accustomed to a couple of staples - celebrating their own on January 26, and/or banding together to support its district's volunteer firefighters as they battle bushfires.

But lately, it's all been about COVID-19. As we closed out 2021, it was with the hope we would be talking less about the pandemic in the new year, then the Omicron variant arrived.

An easing of restrictions combined with families taking time to catch up after two years of lockdowns was always going to mean more cases would be diagnosed.

But seeing thousands of cases across the country was definitely not on anyone's wish list.

Towns and cities which had previously only had isolated cases began to see people isolating and waiting hours in a queue for a PCR test or rushing around trying to find rapid antigen tests, only to find shelves empty.

In the city of Griffith, in south-west New South Wales, residents banded together, as they have done before in times of drought or bushfire, to help those stuck in isolation, who are immunocompromised or elderly. Subscribers to The Area News can read the story here).

The mutual aid effort was started by NDIS support worker Trish Leonard.

"We have both sides of the coin here, volunteers signing up to connect and help those in isolation with whatever they need and then those reaching out for some additional help whilst stuck at home," Ms Leonard said.

"Everyone is welcome to reach out both as a volunteer and as someone needing a helping hand."

Naturally the group has some of the latest tips on where RATs are on the shelves of Griffith shops or know someone who might be able to spare a test or two to help someone else.

Volunteers banding together to help other residents isn't unique to Griffith, or regional areas but it's something Australian do when it's needed.

Across the rest of the nation health, charity or other support services have sprung up during the pandemic and many are battling the strains of ongoing demand for help.

However, the recent grab for rapid antigen tests has highlighted a fundamental problem in a wealthy nation such as Australia.

The Omicron strain has shown how a little extra demand can push health services into crisis, which has a reverberating effect throughout our communities.

In Bathurst NSW, pharmacists have pleaded for patience as the lack of supply goes beyond individual pharmacies.

"We simply didn't have enough in Australia to meet the market, and when you add the fact that state and federal government has had to allocate RAT's to schools, hospitals and aged care facilities, it hasn't created an easy situation for everyone else," Moodie's Pharmacy pharmacist and proprietor Paul Jones said.

The pandemic has been around awhile and after we locked down and kept our distance for two years it feels like no government has taken the time to invest in the health system to prevent what was obvious to many.

It's concerning that people nominally put in charge to represent and help us, haven't yet learned a long-term solution isn't about simply telling people to be responsible.

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