As we keep moving ahead with our COVID-19 response, TPCH staff keep stepping up every day to ensure our patients and community are well cared for. My thanks goes to everyone working on the ground as well as at home to support TPCH during this time. We are all doing our part to make it happen!

Some updates today:

Fit Testing

Our teams have been working hard to meet the target of having 100 per cent of staff who work in high-risk areas to be fit tested by tomorrow, Friday 28 January. This is a big task, and we are progressing well towards our target. Thank you to those staff who have put their hand up to become a fit tester. Your assistance and support is appreciated.

Managers and team leaders of high-risk areas with staff who have not been fit tested yet, are asked to promptly make the necessary arrangements for these staff to be fit tested. See details below.

• High priority staff – TPCH Fit Testers are continuing to work though high priority staff which include:
  • staff working in high risk areas
  • new starters and staff who have not been fit tested
  • staff who have been fit tested to a single mask that may be unavailable.
• Hours – To support as many TPCH staff as possible to get fit tested, TPCH’s fit testing service will offer an extended service this weekend from 7.45am to 4pm. Fit testers are coordinating  bookings as per staff members’ availability provided by line managers and the priority criteria. Therefore, limited walk-ins will be available over the weekend.
• How to book your fit test – Staff can continue to use the online booking if they are not identified as priority as per the above criteria. Staff who meet the above criteria are advised to discuss with their line manager, who will then email their details to Bradley.Maunder@health.qld.gov.au
  Details should include: employee name, availability and contact details so a convenient time can be coordinated.

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IMPORTANT NOTE – Staff in High Risk areas not fit tested

Staff who work in a high risk area and have not been fit tested OR who have failed a fit test OR who have been fit tested for a mask that is unavailable, will be unable to work in a high risk area and will need to be redeployed. This is to protect their own safety, and the safety of other staff and patients.

If you meet one of the above criteria, please escalate to your line manager as soon as possible, who will discuss your options.

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Fit checking

Please do not forget that a fit check should be completed each time you apply a P2/N95 mask even if you have been fit tested successfully to that mask. A short video reminding you of the fit check process is on the Metro North COVID website.

For any queries about fit testing, please email: Bradley.Maunder@health.qld.gov.au

Other TPCH News

TPCH Staff Yarning Circle

TPCH staff are invited to attend a Yarning Circle tomorrow, Friday 28 January.  Hosted by TPCH Cultural Capability Officer, John Corowa, the Yarning Circle will provide TPCH staff with an opportunity to talk and learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, and share their ideas about and building better health and wellbeing, access and culturally safe and responsive services for First Nations people.

Date: Friday 28 January
Time: 12 -1 pm
Where: Via Teams

For more information email: CulturalCapabilityOfficerTPCH@health.qld.gov.au

Language Badge Program

Metro North’s Multicultural Health, Language Badge Program provides an opportunity for Metro North staff and volunteers who fluently speak a language in addition to English or in the case of Auslan, sign, to provide basic language and cultural support to patients and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to help create a welcoming and culturally responsive environment.

Staff are not interpreters. By wearing a badge that displays the language/s they speak/sign other than English, staff and volunteers can:

• Help direct patients to where they need to go
• Explain basic care instructions
• Have a friendly chat

Who can apply?

• All bilingual and multilingual staff and volunteers in Metro North
• The level of proficiency in each identified spoken language (or in the case of Auslan, signed), must be sufficient to allow every day basic communication that can effectively support patients, their families, and visitors.
• Participation in the language badge program is voluntary; participants can remove their badge at any time.

How to get involved
If you would like to get involved in the Program and order your free badge, please contact the Metro North Multicultural Health Coordinator on phone 07 3175 2259 or email: MetroNorth-CALD@health.qld.gov.au

Reminder – Extended Café Operating Hours

To support our healthcare teams during this challenging period, The Café for The Common Good will be extending trading hours for the main café.

From Monday 31 January until the end of February, the café will extend their Monday to Friday trading hours to provide delicious Merlo coffee, nutritious food and snacks until 8.00pm.

When you support The Café for The Common Good, you are helping power medical research taking place right here at The Prince Charles Hospital. Read more about the impacts of The Café for The Common Good social enterprise.

My quote for today

“Diversity – the art of thinking independently together” – Malcolm Forbes

Tami Photinos
Executive Director