Notice to St Jude’s Disability Services Community Clients, families and stakeholders

Dear Client, Family Member/Representative,

As you are probably aware, there is an outbreak of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in the community. COVID-19 primarily causes respiratory illness in humans, and while all types of respiratory viruses can cause sickness in the elderly and those who are immune suppressed, COVID-19 is a particularly contagious infection that can cause severe illness and death for vulnerable people.

St Jude’s Disability Services and programs are currently continuing as normal, however we are reviewing the situation daily and will take the necessary precautions to keep clients, staff and stakeholders safe.

Meanwhile, we are asking you to immediately inform your St Jude’s Coordinator, if you (as a client)

  • Have recently been unwell, been in contact with someone who is unwell or you have symptoms of respiratory illness (e.g. fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, muscle and joint pain, or tiredness/exhaustion).
  • Have been overseas or close contact with anyone who has been overseas in the past 14 days.
  • Have had contact with anyone tested positive to Covid-19 or awaiting test result.

This extends to your family members and other residents in your household, if any.

Potential service disruption

As you may be aware, our support staff including therapy staff provide care and support to many other individuals in the community and they visit many clients/families. It is important to ensure our staff members will not become the carrier of Covid-19 between the clients and communities or they become the victim. If you are unwell or exposed to Covid-19, we may not be able to continue to provide regular support especially if it is a social support or therapy program. However, if it is an essential support service, we will ensure your safety and wellbeing, and we may advise relevant agencies or informal services of your support needs for further assistance.

Although we are doing everything, we can do to ensure minimal disruption due to staff absenteeism, if it becomes a concern, please expect some service disruption such as;

  • We may not be able to provide your regular support staff
  • Changes to service start and finish time and even service days may change
  • Service cancellations

However, we will prioritise our service delivery to ensure the most vulnerable or significantly depended person will receive priority support from us.

We strongly encourage our clients, families and representatives to consider emergency measures to manage issues in the event of service disruption from us.

What we are doing to ensure minimal service disruption and transmission of Covid-19

  • Limiting staff leave approval to help ensure an adequate supply of staff in the event of an outbreak
  • Ensuring an adequate back up supply of essential PPEs Requesting staff to stay away from work if they are unwell
  • Requesting staff who have returned from overseas to self-isolate for 14 days before returning to work.
  • Implementing “social distancing practices”, which may affect your regular community activities for eg: attending to crowded places.

We thank you for your understanding and if you have any queries or concerns please do not hesitate to contact your Coordinator, Therapist or myself on 9279 4343 or fiona.t@stjudes.com.au

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Taylor – Operations Manager

handwashing