Message from the Executive Director

Glynis Schultz, Executive Director

For me, there is no greater privilege than hearing about our services making a difference to patients’ lives. On 25 November 2023, an 81-year-old woman was referred to the Rapid Access to Community Care Service (RACC) by the Queensland Ambulance Service after she had a fall at home and wrote:

“Initially, the prompt contact and visit from Alyce Halverson was first class. Her thoroughness and attention to detail, along with rapidly developing a most friendly rapport put me at ease immediately. Following her visit, I was surprised at the almost instant following up and arrangements as advised by OT and PT providers as organised by Alyce. Support was provided and demonstrated by using suggested equipment so as to prevent me having any further falls (I hope!) Overall, I cannot express my appreciation to the Rapid Access team (after trying other avenues without success) for the quality of your people, thoroughness and promptness in enabling me to enjoy a more confident and relaxing time as I age gracefully. Clearly rapid access is well worth their title and a credit to Metro North HHS. I trust this service along with the caring well-trained personnel continues to assist many other in need.”

I am delighted that the service has been appreciated by the people that we serve.

Today we heard the great news that the service has received recurrent funding so their future is assured and the RACC team will go on to deliver bigger and better things.

Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture.

Mead is reported as replying that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed.

A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery.

“Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts,” Mead said.

We are at our best when we serve others.

Evacuation at Cooinda

Igor Sulejic was working a regular night shift when he had to put his Fire Warden training into practice earlier this week. Assisted by Robert Miles and the broader night shift team, the pair took immediate action to maximise resident safety during the evacuation, and to help minimise any harm to infrastructure. They were commended by the Fire Service Response team for their response.

As to be expected, there was considerable disruption for the remainder of the day and I am sincerely grateful to the Cooinda Staff, the rapid response from Rob Wallwork from BEMS and the PSO staff led by Robert Leishman as they made the facility clean and dry so that residents could return safely back to their “homes”.

It’s a good reminder for all of us to maintain the currency of our fire safety training at all times.

Identified Workforce Gathering

In demonstrating our commitment towards Health Equity and our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce, a Community and Oral Health staff gathering is being held for any Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander identified staff member working within Community and Oral Health on Friday 15 March from 10am to 12pm at the 19^th Ave meeting room at Brighton.

If you have any questions in relation to this gathering or would like to attend please email coh-a_tsi_hlthteam@health.qld.gov.au by Friday 8 March.

Community Services ESM go-live update

Community Services ESM team ESM ‘went live’ for COH on Wednesday 31 January, 2024. While we are not the first directorate in Metro North to implement ESM, however, we are the first directorate to transition from the bespoke HCare system used throughout COH.

I sincerely thank all of the teams across COH for their pre-work in participating in training and their role in the technical aspects of data transfer.

I have stayed abreast of the implementation and know that the change has not been without its challenges, which were to be expected, however you have responded in the best interest of the patients and services.

There are too many people to name personally, so if you are reading this, please accept this as my personal thanks to YOU.

HCare has served COH well and I pay tribute to the creators and past employees of Metro North including Ian Missenden; Michael Elliot, Hayley Middleton. I also want to acknowledge Kathryn Coleman for her role as Information Systems Manager, and the broader Service Operations and Performance Team for maximising the benefits of HCare.

Halwyn Centre February Newsletter

2024 is an exciting year for Halwyn as the building gets a makeover. I am grateful to the residents, staff and families for their patience during renovations and look forward to a much-improved environment for our residents. I also congratulate the Halwyn staff and families who participated in the assessment against NDIS standards in December.

Read more of the Halwyn newsletter to find out more.

COH Diversity and Inclusion Snapshot Report

Creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace is at the forefront for Community and Oral Health. The 2023 snapshot outlines these efforts to date, and proposed future actions to help us achieve our vision of being a recognised and celebrated health leader of inclusivity and diversity.

We have focused on three key priority groups – Culturally and linguistically Diverse (multicultural), LGBTIQ+ and Disability (all abilities).

We know that together we have an obligation to care for our most vulnerable staff, patients, and consumers but also to evolve through leveraging off diverse abilities and thinking.

As a facility, COH will continue to progress key actions to promote and support diversity and inclusion.

If any staff members have an idea on how we can be more diverse and inclusive, we encourage you to email the COH Executive Sponsors.

Claire Harrison – Manager Consumer Engagement and Community Partnerships coh-engagement@health.qld.gov.au
Kate Schultz – Director Allied Health COH-DAH@health.qld.gov.au

Glynis.