17 April 2020 – COVID-19 (coronavirus)

Dear Colleagues,

This week we have seen a progressive decrease in the number of positive COVID-19 cases both in Metro North and Queensland showing our response efforts are indeed flattening the curve. While this is definitely something we can celebrate and be proud of, this is not the time to become complacent. We will continue to implement our pandemic plan, and where possible stay home and observe social distancing to continue flattening the curve.

Elective Surgery update

In order to strike a balance between our COVID-19 preparedness and the needs of our patients, we are discussing options to reopen some theatres for limited urgent category two surgeries and category five procedures. This will provide relief to vulnerable patients and their families waiting for surgery.

Communicating with you

We’ve now been running our Vidcasts for three weeks and there is certainly no sign their popularity is slowing down. My commitment to you is to keep this communication tool running as long as there is demand. If you’re unable to tune in to our live streams I encourage you to watch online on our Metro North COVID-19 page at your convenience.

This week’s COVID-19 staff newsletter is also available online.

It has been a sad week in our household. Our 14-year old beagle Buckley has a 9cm mass in his lungs and we have been coming to terms with his advanced care directive. Our pets are an important part of our family and Ned is devastated. We got Buckley and his sister Willow as puppies and they have been constant companions for us. Like most parents our son wanted a dog, but it quickly turned into Ned and I looking after them. I certainly will not miss the yard duty of scooping up after them.

My fondest and most frustrating memory of them involved Ned’s mother’s 60th birthday. I had got up early as we had put both dogs down the side of the house to stop them bothering our guests for the outdoor party. To move them I had to lead them round the front of the house to put them into the backyard. Willow slipped her collar and bolted through the neighbour’s garden and Buckley soon followed. This involved me chasing them down the road in my boxers through different neighbours’ yards. I finally cornered Willow and got her collar back on and turned around to find one of neighbours doing tai chi in their garden. She promptly scolded me and told me to put some pants on. The moral of the story is when chasing your dogs, stop and take the time to put some pants on.

If you can, please take some down time over the next few days to recharge your batteries, I encourage you all to be putting yourself and your families’ wellbeing at front of mind as we work through this pandemic. If you haven’t already, please look at our staff wellbeing extranet page – there are some excellent resources available for staff.

Have a great weekend all.

Regards,

Shaun