From the Chief Executive Officer

A WORD FROM THE Chief Executive Officer

s we go to print with this edition of Life & Love, debate is raging in the media about whether it should be mandatory for all aged care workers to have the COVID-19 vaccine.A I believe that the COVID-19 vaccine should be mandatory for our staff, just as the flu vaccination is every year simply because it helps us keep our residents safe, which is our number one priority at Hall & Prior.

We take vaccinations very seriously at Hall & Prior and I’m delighted to tell you that 100 per cent of our staff in WA and NSW have now had their flu vaccinations.

Hall & Prior is an industry leader in vaccinations, championing an influenza vaccine for staff and residents for the past decade resulting in high immunisation rates across the organisation for the past 10 years. We are very proud of our vaccination program and delighted to be able to provide free flu vaccinations to our eligible staff. In 2020, the Federal Government enforced new legislation which made current flu vaccinations and evidence of them mandatory for entry to aged care homes for all visitors, staff and contractors. We wholeheartedly support this decision and we thank our staff for their ongoing support in this. You can read all about our flu vaccination clinics on page 6 of this issue. A big focus for this issue is also NAIDOC Week, which we will celebrate at our homes from July 4 to 11. NAIDOC Week is very important to us at Hall & Prior and this issue’s cover star is Sue Gordon AM, who we are working very closely with on our Sister Kate’s Health & Aged Care Queen’s Park project. This year’s NAIDOC theme is “Heal Country!” and we hope that by working alongside Sister Kate’s and the Aboriginal community we can start to heal some of the trauma associated with the Stolen Generation.

This is a very important project and we look forward to providing an integrated care model for Aboriginal people in Western Australia. You can read all about Sister Kate’s and Sue Gordon’s story on page 8 of this issue. As you can see from the photo opposite, WA’s Premier Mark McGowan paid a visit to our Rockingham home to help celebrate one of our resident’s birthdays - read all about it on page 44. Also in this issue we look back at our International Nurses Day celebrations held in May and talk to some of our key nurses about what being a nurse means to them.

As always, I hope you enjoy this issue and the wonderful stories of life and love within our homes.

Yours truly,

GRAEME PRIOR Chief Executive Officer