![\"Message](\"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/extranet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2020\/03\/exec-e-banners-COVID-19-Shaun-Drummond.jpg\" "\\"Message")
<\/span><\/div>1 May 2020 \u2013 COVID-19 (coronavirus)<\/strong><\/p>\n Dear Colleagues,<\/p>\n Today is Administration Professionals Day, the day we celebrate all the people who are often behind the scenes making things run smoothly. The past few months there\u2019s been a lot of attention (well deserved) on our frontline clinical staff for their work in responding to the pandemic, but our admin staff play a critical role in our ability to deliver excellent healthcare.<\/p>\n The admin person is often the first face a patient sees when they come into our care and makes a huge difference to the patient\u2019s experience of their care. Admin staff keep people like me focussed on what we need to do by taking care of all the many things that would otherwise consume our days. So, to all our admin professionals at all levels of the HHS and in all parts of the organisation: thank you. Your contribution does not go unnoticed and is most definitely appreciated.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve had another good week in Queensland, with several days of no new COVID-19 cases.\u00a0As the Queensland testing capacity is enhanced, we are working on establishing population surveillance through enhanced testing processes within targeted asymptomatic cohorts within our HHS, including select groups of patients attending our health service and for workforces initially within Intensive Care Units, Emergency Departments, Surgical and Birth Suites.<\/p>\n People who are tested as part of population surveillance are not required to isolate pending their test results, but of course, are required to continue to operate within\u00a0all of\u00a0the relevant Queensland Health Directions of the day.<\/p>\n As we move back to more of our usual clinical activity, please remember that there will still be\u00a0challenging\u00a0moments\u00a0and we need to all look out for each other. Our union colleagues at Queensland Nurses and Midwives\u2019 Union, Together Union and Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation Queensland have joined me in thanking\u00a0you for your work so far and ask you to please take care of yourself and each other. You can read the\u00a0joint memo here<\/a>.<\/p>\n For the past few\u00a0weeks\u00a0we\u2019ve been running weekday live\u00a0vidcast\u00a0sessions on COVID-19 related topics. These have been very well received and I\u2019ve enjoyed chatting with so many of you. As we transition to our new normal, we\u2019re shifting the\u00a0vidcasts\u00a0to once a week so you can still ask questions directly of me and our executive. This week my co-host was our Executive Director Clinical Services Dr Liz Whiting.<\/p>\n On Tuesday I\u2019ll be joined on the\u00a0vidcast\u00a0by our Executive Director Nursing and Midwifery Services Alanna Geary for International Midwives Day. You can join us from 11am-12pm via Zoom link\u00a0https:\/\/us02web.zoom.us\/j\/97862663976.<\/a>\u00a0If you would like to ask questions in advance and vote on the topics for the\u00a0vidcast, use the\u00a0Slido\u00a0event code: ‘vidcast2’.<\/p>\n Our weekly COVID-19 newsletter is\u00a0now\u00a0available online<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ned is a big fan of cooking shows like many Australians. I would hate to be on Goggle Box when we are watching cooking shows as we engage in passionate debate about the merit of parsnip crisps. I have a clear stance of why ruin the great concept of a crisp by making it out of a parsnip.\u00a0So,\u00a0over this long weekend we are going to have a challenge of Sam and I vs Ned in a cook off. Sam has suggested that he and I order out;\u00a0of course,\u00a0this comes from the young man who believes\u00a0two-minute\u00a0noodles in the microwave is cooking. I do not hold out much hope that we will win the challenge. All suggestions of what we could make will be considered! My mother came over from New Zealand to spend time with us in January for her 80th birthday and I have always made jokes she is like Marie in \u2018Everybody loves Raymond\u2019. Unfortunately, we can\u2019t use her as a ring-in for our cooking team.<\/p>\n Please remember to continue your physical distancing, handwashing and respiratory hygiene if you\u2019re taking advantage of some of the eased restrictions this weekend.<\/p>\n Regards,<\/p>\n Shaun<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n Here\u2019s the communication schedule for the next week:<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Monday 4 May
\n(Labour Day public holiday)<\/td>\n\u2022 Daily MN Health Incident Controller message<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Tuesday 5 May<\/td>\n \u2022 Daily MN Health Incident Controller message
\n\u2022 Vidcast\u00a0with Chief Executive and EDNMS Alanna Geary, 11am-12pm
\n\u2022 CE COVID-19 week in review email<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Wednesday 6 May<\/td>\n \u2022 Daily MN Health Incident Controller message
\n\u2022 Acting ED Operations message<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Thursday 7 May<\/td>\n \u2022 Daily MN Health Incident Controller message<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Friday 8 May<\/td>\n \u2022 Daily MN Health Incident Controller message
\n\u2022 CE weekly message
\n\u2022 Weekly COVID-19 staff newsletter<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Saturday 9 May<\/td>\n \u2022 Daily MN Health Incident Controller message<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Sunday 10 May<\/td>\n \u2022 Daily MN Health Incident Controller message<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n