By Jan Child
I WENT for a walk after work on Friday and saw the changes to Anderson’s Inlet where almost overnight a river had been carved out in the local landscape. It was so refreshing to be part of that beauty, and I was aware of the parallels of our COVID journey.
In such a short amount of time, the world’s landscape has changed. Three years ago, most of us wouldn't have dreamed that the last two years were possible. And yet we have experienced such dramatic changes.
In the past weeks, we are seeing Victoria’s health system really struggle as a result of rising COVID cases, with stories from our Melbourne and Sydney colleagues about demand like never before, wards overflowing with COVID and other cases, intensive care units full of mostly unvaccinated patients and nurses holding the hands of people who are dying alone.
I WENT for a walk after work on Friday and saw the changes to Anderson’s Inlet where almost overnight a river had been carved out in the local landscape. It was so refreshing to be part of that beauty, and I was aware of the parallels of our COVID journey.
In such a short amount of time, the world’s landscape has changed. Three years ago, most of us wouldn't have dreamed that the last two years were possible. And yet we have experienced such dramatic changes.
In the past weeks, we are seeing Victoria’s health system really struggle as a result of rising COVID cases, with stories from our Melbourne and Sydney colleagues about demand like never before, wards overflowing with COVID and other cases, intensive care units full of mostly unvaccinated patients and nurses holding the hands of people who are dying alone.
The outbreaks in regions including Gippsland have grown and the tentacles have made their way to the Bass Coast. Last month Bass had no cases; today we have five. I predict many more next month. On Thursday, we had a positive patient walk in the front door and we furloughed seven staff, with our COVID safe plan protecting us against much more.
I expect this to happen many more times over coming weeks and I expect us to be busier than ever.
Our preparation has already been excellent and Bass Coast Health received huge commendations from the Gippsland Regional expert group about our excellent state of readiness. But just as this river changed and adapted, so will we need to to keep us and our community safe.
Over the next weeks, I anticipate we will experience huge change, which requires huge effort. I know that we are all really tired, and over it! I know some of you are scared and didn’t sign up for this! I also know that each of you will play your part in making sure we can safely respond to the unprecedented surge of this pandemic.
More than ever, look after yourself, and look out for others as we all do our best to support our community to the other side. These will likely be the toughest weeks we have ever had – know that together we can do this!
There is intensive work happening across Victoria to ensure we are well positioned to meet the rising COVID numbers. The Department of Health tell us we should anticipate seeing many SCOVID (suspected COVID) and COVID patients, alongside our usual cohort of patients, over the coming weeks and months.
While everyone else in the community is savouring the thought of opening up, healthcare settings across the state will be busier than they have ever been before. A daunting prospect, but one we are ready for.
Many more beds are open in Melbourne, including many ICU beds, and health services have been identified as streaming hospitals, which means all COVID patients requiring inpatient care will be transferred to them. Local people with COVID requiring inpatient care will mostly go to Monash and Alfred hospitals, and eventually to Latrobe Regional Hospital which is soon to be designated as a streaming service.
We are working with Ambulance Victoria (AV) to prepare for a surge in COVID patients. Our long history of local collaboration will see us responding together to manage the increase in emergency presentations. AV will continue to base paramedics on our site to support our response.
Our sub-regional partnerships are strong and as a testament to that, Gippsland Southern Health Service (GSHS) will take our sub-acute patients to Korumburra this week, where they can be safe and secure. Our very excellent medical sub-acute team will move with our sub-acute patients, overseeing their care, in collaboration with their medical, nursing and allied health staff.
This will free up space at Wonthaggi for our Hospital in the Home program, which will support the majority of our medical (COVID and Non-COVID) patients. Importantly, our expert sub-acute nursing staff will help us respond to the increased medical demand –whether it is in the hospital, or at home. We have made great progress with our sub-regional colleagues and the Primary Health Network, to develop strong pathways to safely support and monitor many more people, including COVID community members, in their own home with a specific COVID care response.
As we have done already, we will continue to do everything in our might to test and vaccinate as many of our community members who need it during these tricky few weeks and months.
And finally, on October 11, Armitage House (having just been fully renovated) will temporarily become our respiratory emergency department where we will care for SCOVID and COVID patients. Our current emergency department will continue to provide excellent care to our non-respiratory patients. This emergency response will keep our community safe, and our service response strong.
Thank you to everyone, who has made all this possible. We have a great responsibility to do our best for our community, and with this plan I have no doubt we will.
This is an edited version of Jan Child’s message to Bass Coast Health staff in the Weekly newsletter.
I expect this to happen many more times over coming weeks and I expect us to be busier than ever.
Our preparation has already been excellent and Bass Coast Health received huge commendations from the Gippsland Regional expert group about our excellent state of readiness. But just as this river changed and adapted, so will we need to to keep us and our community safe.
Over the next weeks, I anticipate we will experience huge change, which requires huge effort. I know that we are all really tired, and over it! I know some of you are scared and didn’t sign up for this! I also know that each of you will play your part in making sure we can safely respond to the unprecedented surge of this pandemic.
More than ever, look after yourself, and look out for others as we all do our best to support our community to the other side. These will likely be the toughest weeks we have ever had – know that together we can do this!
There is intensive work happening across Victoria to ensure we are well positioned to meet the rising COVID numbers. The Department of Health tell us we should anticipate seeing many SCOVID (suspected COVID) and COVID patients, alongside our usual cohort of patients, over the coming weeks and months.
While everyone else in the community is savouring the thought of opening up, healthcare settings across the state will be busier than they have ever been before. A daunting prospect, but one we are ready for.
Many more beds are open in Melbourne, including many ICU beds, and health services have been identified as streaming hospitals, which means all COVID patients requiring inpatient care will be transferred to them. Local people with COVID requiring inpatient care will mostly go to Monash and Alfred hospitals, and eventually to Latrobe Regional Hospital which is soon to be designated as a streaming service.
We are working with Ambulance Victoria (AV) to prepare for a surge in COVID patients. Our long history of local collaboration will see us responding together to manage the increase in emergency presentations. AV will continue to base paramedics on our site to support our response.
Our sub-regional partnerships are strong and as a testament to that, Gippsland Southern Health Service (GSHS) will take our sub-acute patients to Korumburra this week, where they can be safe and secure. Our very excellent medical sub-acute team will move with our sub-acute patients, overseeing their care, in collaboration with their medical, nursing and allied health staff.
This will free up space at Wonthaggi for our Hospital in the Home program, which will support the majority of our medical (COVID and Non-COVID) patients. Importantly, our expert sub-acute nursing staff will help us respond to the increased medical demand –whether it is in the hospital, or at home. We have made great progress with our sub-regional colleagues and the Primary Health Network, to develop strong pathways to safely support and monitor many more people, including COVID community members, in their own home with a specific COVID care response.
As we have done already, we will continue to do everything in our might to test and vaccinate as many of our community members who need it during these tricky few weeks and months.
And finally, on October 11, Armitage House (having just been fully renovated) will temporarily become our respiratory emergency department where we will care for SCOVID and COVID patients. Our current emergency department will continue to provide excellent care to our non-respiratory patients. This emergency response will keep our community safe, and our service response strong.
Thank you to everyone, who has made all this possible. We have a great responsibility to do our best for our community, and with this plan I have no doubt we will.
This is an edited version of Jan Child’s message to Bass Coast Health staff in the Weekly newsletter.