Thank you for being a Member of Five Good Friends. It is an honour to be entrusted to provide you help and support.

COVID-19 vaccine booster doses now available.

Booster doses are available to everyone 18 years and over who have had both doses of their primary course of a COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months ago.

Boosters are currently not recommended for:

• people aged 12 to 17 years
• people who are severely immunocompromised and have already had a third dose.

Benefits of a booster dose

Two doses of COVID-19 vaccine provide very good protection, especially against severe disease. A booster dose will make sure the protection is even stronger and longer lasting, and should help prevent spread of the virus.

Vaccine types for booster doses

The Comirnaty (Pfizer) vaccine is approved and recommended as a COVID-19 booster dose. You can have the Pfizer vaccine as a booster regardless of which vaccine you had for your first 2 doses.

A booster dose will continue to protect you, your loved ones and your community against COVID-19. Booster doses are free for everyone. More information on booster doses can be found on the Commonwealth Department of Health website.

You can book a booster dose through the COVID-19 Clinic finder. Five Good Friends can help you receive your booster shot by assisting with booking or transportation. If you would like help please call the Member Services team on 1300 787 581 option 1.

Mandated vaccination for healthcare workers in Queensland

Public Health Directions issued by the Queensland Government Chief Medical Officer have mandated COVID-19 vaccination for healthcare workers across private health, aged care, and disability sectors.

Under the direction all Five Good Friends Helpers in Queensland will need to have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine or have an approved medical exemption by December 15th. We have been regularly communicating with all Queensland Helpers about the mandate and timelines. Evidence of vaccination or approved exemption must be provided to Five Good Friends.

If a Queensland Helper does not provide Five Good Friends with evidence by December 14th we will be required to remove them from all visits.

Contactless and reduced contact services

We have designed services to address specific situations and provide additional support and peace of mind. These include:

• Contactless shopping and delivery.
• Telehelp - assisted (if required) telehealth visits.

To access these services please contact Member Services on 1300 787 581 Option 1.

Experience in managing vaccination mandates

Our focus is on our Members and ensuring services continue uninterrupted. We have successfully managed the mandating of vaccinations in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. This has included:

• Providing regular updates about COVID-19 and Public Health Directions.
• The design of standard operating procedures to ensure the safe delivery of services .
• Education sessions and a webinar on vaccination with Infectious disease expert Dr Paul Griffin.
• Assistance with managing schedules to receive the vaccine.

We are continuing with these processes and supports for Members and Helpers in Queensland. We would appreciate your understanding if there are some changes to your visits that are required as we finalise and verify Helper vaccinations. Please be assured we are doing our best to avoid this and started working with Helpers as soon as the Public Health Direction was given.

Investing in your Helpers and building a workforce of the future.

As a result of COVID-19 many skilled and caring people have made the decision to leave the industry. This has affected all organisations, with some reporting a 15% loss of their workforce. While supporting Members and Helpers through COVID-19 has been a key focus, of equal importance to us has been continuing to find the best Helpers.

Supporting and helping people to live engaged and fulfilling lives connected to the friends, families and communities they love is important and honourable work. Our firm belief is that the organisations who will support their customers and families the best, will be those who have the most engaged and talented people, committed to their profession. Five Good Friends is making significant investment to attract, train and retain Helpers with the goal of serving and delighting our Members and their families. We will share more information about our investment and supporting initiatives with you shortly.

Once again thank you for choosing to be a Member of Five Good Friends. We will continue to work hard to provide you safe, kind and responsive help and support.

We are also grateful you have chosen Five Good Friends. We will continue to diligently monitor the COVID-19 situation and do our best to provide you safe, flexible, kind and consistent support.

Kind regards,

William Garton
Head of Quality and Programme Development
Five Good Friends