Thank you for being a Member of Five Good Friends. It is an honour to be entrusted to provide you help and support.
Through this period of COVID-19, we will be increasing our frequency of communication to keep you informed of our ongoing response and actions.
Monitoring and managing reported COVID-19 cases
We continue to follow all reporting, testing and isolation requirements as defined by the relevant State Public Health Orders. Omicron has high levels of transmission and is affecting all businesses from retailers to home care organisations. This is causing a significant spike in reporting of potential and confirmed cases.
Currently, we have 82 Helpers who are absent and following isolation requirements. This represents 13% of all vetted, verified and active Helpers. 30 Members are isolating. Of both these groups, 40 are confirmed cases. Since the beginning of the outbreak in February 2020, we have managed 801 reports of potential cases from Members, Helpers and staff. We have a robust system and a dedicated team to encourage reporting, and to monitor and assist our Members and Helpers through wellbeing check-in's.
We appreciate your patience, understanding and support
We continue to urge all Helpers, Members and staff to be vigilant through this period of increased community transmission. Your wellbeing is our priority.
If a Helper is required to cancel a visit because of testing requirements, we would appreciate your understanding. In this instance, we will work with you to reschedule, find another suitable Helper, or work with you to identify essential services to prioritise. Our team and Helpers are working extremely hard to manage this challenge safely and diligently. Evidence from overseas suggests the Omicron wave will have a sharp peak, as we are experiencing now, and a rapid decline. We are monitoring this closely and hope the disruption to everyone's lives ends soon.
Rapid antigen tests
In our communication last week, we advised we have been working since December to secure Rapid Antigen Tests for our Members, Helpers and staff. These are in short supply. The Commonwealth Government is prioritising its stores for Residential Aged Care. We have an order in place with an external supplier. We anticipate we will receive an initial quantity of 3,000 in the next three weeks. We will keep you updated.
Other important actions
Other important actions we are taking at his time to do our best to support everyone's wellbeing and safety include:
- Attending Work Guidelines: Last week, the COVID-19 Response Team met to review and publish updated Attending Work Guidelines for all Helpers and staff. These follow latest Department of Health Guidelines and State Public Health Orders. This is an important step to support the safety of our Members and help ensure we are able to optimise our workforce for continued delivery of supports and services
- Standard Operating Procedure: Through the pandemic, the Standard Operating Procedure has been a guiding document for the safe delivery of supports and services. This has been updated to align with the new health directives and definitions of contacts.
If you have a confirmed diagnosis, are a close contact or have signs and symptoms
If you are required to enter a mandatory period of isolation because you are a confirmed case, close contact of a diagnosed case, or are awaiting the outcome of a COVID-19 test, please contact Five Good Friends immediately on 1300 787 581. You can call this number 24/7.
Once again, thank you for being a Member of Five Good Friends. We will continue to work diligently to support your safety and wellbeing.
Kind regards,
William Garton
Head of Quality and Programme Development
Five Good Friends
