Dear colleagues,

Great news again today, Queensland has recorded zero new COVID-19 cases overnight!

Here are several things to keep in mind today:

• Metro North Mantra
• Flexible working arrangements
• Your wellbeing

Metro North Mantra

I’d like to remind everyone of our Metro North Mantra! Some of them might seem like small, simple steps, but every bit counts!

• Physically distance where possible.
• Excellent hand hygiene, including sanitising at every entrance and exit to our hospitals and lifts.
• If you’re sick, GET TESTED AND STAY HOME – do not come to work. Your line manager will send you home if you are unwell.
• Avoid crowded places or transit quickly through high foot traffic areas if they can’t be avoided.
• Cough or sneeze into a tissue or your elbow, dispose of the tissue immediately, and wash your hands.
• Do not travel to identified COVID-19 hotspots and avoid interstate travel.

On top of this, please follow all health directives and restrictions imposed by the Premier and Queensland Health. These can change regularly, and we do our best to share the newest information with you every day, so keep an eye on these IC messages!

Flexible working arrangements

I’d like to remind staff of the Digital Resources page available on the COVID-19 extranet site, particularly those who are affected by border closures. If you’re someone who will be affected by a closure of the Queensland/ New South Wales ‘border bubble’ pause, please familiarise yourself with these resources in the event you’ll be working from home. Please remember to discuss this with your line manager.

Your wellbeing

Even though Queensland is managing the pandemic well at the moment, we can’t drop the ball just yet! We also can’t assume that everyone’s going to be feeling okay just because we aren’t announcing new cases every day. I encourage you to visit the Staff Wellbeing page and have a look at all the great resources there to help you that you might’ve forgotten about. This site can be accessed from home too, so if you see anything that you think might help a friend or loved one, please share it with them! We’re all in this together, as a health service, as a city, and as a state. Let us also think of our southern colleagues who are doing it tough. We have done so well in Queensland and we all should be happy with what we have achieved but we must not rest on what has gone before, we need to remain vigilant as our circumstances could change in a heartbeat.

On another note, my colleagues and I enjoyed a taste of the Ekka today in the EOC! We pre-ordered some classic Strawberry Sundaes to indulge in since we aren’t able to attend the famous Ekka this year. Thanks to The Common Good, there are pop-up stalls around Brisbane selling this staple treat, so make sure you head to one over the long weekend and treat yourself! You can find a list of the pop-ups here. I must admit that while I would never eat a Dagwood Dog normally the fact that I haven’t had one this year is really bothering me…not sure why!!! On a funny note, the year that I was pregnant with my twins (1993) and in the days that they would let nurses in uniform into the Ekka for lunch, I went across and ate 3 dagwood dogs…one for each of us!!! Not sure that I would do that now, but it is one of my Ekka memories!!!

Until tomorrow, take care, look after yourself and each other and be kind. Remember “Wherever there is a human being, there is opportunity for kindness”.

Kind regards,
Alanna Geary
Metro North Incident Commander

Metro North HHS – Overview of Cases*

*With effect 12 August 2020, 10:00am
**Metro North has three recorded deaths (one person a return traveller into NSW, who passed away in NSW)
*** These numbers reflect the cases being managed by Metro North.