Dear all,
Once again, we are all facing the challenges of supporting our colleagues, our families and our community. Over the last year I have watched with great pride as so many of you stepped up and have shown consistent leadership, teamwork and compassion as we continue to navigate our way through this pandemic.
While I do say many of you, there some exceptions still evident in Metro North and I continue to ask that all of us self reflect and be mindful of the impact we can have on others in the workplace.
Something comes to mind and I can’t recall where I heard it, but I’d like to share. Hillary Clinton recited: “There were two young fish swimming upstream together and an older fish came swimming downstream and said, ‘you are going to have fun upstream, the water is fine’. The two young fish looked at each other and said, ‘what is water?’”
My reflection on this is we don’t always recognise or understand the environment and rather than being distrustful or angry if we don’t, I ask that you put your hand up we will describe what water is. We will be transparent and support you all because that is our job.
I would also like to remind you we have an active peer responder model in Metro North so use these networks when times are challenging.
Easter may not be as we expected and while that may be difficult for some, it is important that we keep Queensland safe. We must step up and do the right thing, physical distance, practice good hand hygiene, stay home if you are unwell and get vaccinated and tested. I hope you get some time to celebrate virtually or otherwise with those you care about.
As of close of business yesterday we had vaccinated 16,644 people, including a record 1726 yesterday, and will be moving full steam ahead into the broader cohorts after Easter. I really want to give a special thank you to all staff who have been vaccinating and swabbing. You’re helping to keep staff at our facilities safe.
To all those who are delivering services, and have been doing so, to COVID-19 positive people for the last 12 months, and to those who have been fiercely committed to delivering frontline services in the face of increased demand (ED, Mental Health and Critical Care), thank you. To all of you who continue to do your best even when the goal posts are moving, we appreciate you more than you know. Metro North Public Health Unit and Emergency Operations Centre, where most of us have little visibility of what is happening in that space, a great big thank you to all of you.
Our Incident Controller Mark Butterworth and I will be holding a COVID vidcast tomorrow at 1.30pm. The link will be sent out tomorrow morning.
Shaun would probably share a recipe or a personal note at this stage. He returns from leave next week so I will leave that till the next CE message.
Stay safe.
Kind regards,
Jackie