Snapshot Zooming in on the latest news from St John of God SEM Hospitals (Berwick, Frankston, Pinelodge, Langmore)
9th April, 2021
Flu vaccines coming to a SEM hospital near you! We’re all suffering from vaccine-fatigue at the moment with news of the Covid vaccines dominating much of our air space these days. However, let’s not become complacent despite the fact that confirmed flu cases dropped by 300,000 to a meagre 21,215 in Australia last year. As we all know, 2020 was a year like no other and yet so much uncertainty around 2021 continues to remain. According to the Department of Health, lower flu numbers were due to border closures, reduced social interactions, better hygiene, and most importantly, higher levels of influenza vaccination. Given life is getting back to normal here in Victoria and social gatherings are back on the agenda—now is not the time to forgo the annual flu jab. Next week Berwick hospital is rolling out its first Flu Clinic on Tuesday, 13 April from 10:30am-5:30pm in the Wexford Room (Level 2). Suzi Marquez, Berwick’s Infection Control Coordinator, wants caregivers to be mindful of physical distancing and she asks that consideration be made when you arrive, especially if there are already a number of people ahead of you. If that is the case, you can come back in an hour or so, or wait for the next flu clinic to be held. There will be further clinics scheduled. Caregivers from all SEM hospitals are welcome to attend the Berwick clinic. For Frankston and Pinelodge caregivers, Kerry Plancke, Infection Control Coordinator, will be scheduling flu clinics between April 26 and May 23. All caregivers are required to fill out the consent form prior to vaccination. Contact your Infection Control team for more information. Please note: For caregivers aged 65 years and over, a quadrivalent vaccine with an adjuvant known to increase the immunogenicity of vaccines will be made available but will not be accessible at Berwick’s first flu clinic.
April is Falls Prevention Month Across Australia, April is recognised as Falls Prevention/Awareness month. At Frankston hospital Rebecca Nolan, Quality Coordinator, has set up a display and placed the poster seen opposite in each patient room, in order to highlight the fact that falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths in Australia each year. With around 200,000 falls severe enough for hospitalisation, it’s important to find strategies to reduce fall rates. Currently it’s estimated to cost about $3.9b annually on recurrent health service expenditure with over 65s most at risk.
Roadworks around Berwick hospital from April to late 2021 Major works are underway to build the new Clyde Road underpass. These extensive works will impact caregivers by the way of lane closures, reduced speed limits and traffic management along Clyde Road, Berwick Station and local roads. Pedestrians and cyclists will be rerouted and heavy vehicle activity with moderate construction/ vibrations could impact the surrounding areas. Night works may also occur. • • •
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Clyde road will be reduced to a single northbound lane between the Princes Fwy off-ramp and Jane Street. Pedestrian access between Sir Gustov Nossal Blvd and Enterprise Avenue will be closed. Detours via Buchannan Park or Kangan Drive will enable access to Berwick Station.
Up to 170 car parking spaces at Berwick Station will be closed until the middle of the year Pick up/dropp off zones and taxi bays on both sides of the station will be closed until March 2022 Some public car parking spaces will be closed on Clyde Road near the Berwick Skate Park until late 2021
Mandatory Training: New modules added to My Learning Please make sure you regularly jump onto My Learning to complete training that has expired or is expiring — it will come up as expiring three months before your due date.
New Modules: Please complete before the end of April •
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Safeguarding Children, Young People and Adults at Risk Privacy Cybersecurity
Pinelodge caregivers: Your Kronos thoughts are needed With the parallel pay runs underway, The RTA (Kronos project team) would like to check in to see how comfortable Pinelodge caregivers are using Kronos. Please take a moment to complete the relevant survey for your role, by clicking on one of the below links:
Your response is important and will be used to assess Pinelodge’s overall readiness for going live. If there are any areas of Kronos that you would like some extra help with, please flag this in your survey response and a member of the RTA project team will contact you.
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Thank you.
Manager Survey or Caregiver Survey
Naming spaces competition: The Langmore Centre redevelopment More than 60 caregivers responded to the survey asking for help to name the new Langmore Centre wards, meeting rooms and communal spaces. The results indicated that our caregivers felt connected to key people from the past who have played a significant role in the healthcare services offered by Pinelodge Clinic, Brighton hospital and Berwick’s Gibb St hospital. This in keeping with the name of the facility itself- The Langmore Centre- named after the founding doctor of the Berwick hospital, Dr Percy Langmore. The redvelopment team will now take the results of the survey as they continue to collate the names of the key people who should be considered for naming rights.
Tammy Pearse, Pinelodge Clinic you are the winner of the $50 voucher. Please contact Lisa Carman, Marketing, on lisa.carman@sjog.org.au to collect your prize.
There will be more opportunities for caregiver consultation as the project progresses and we encourage all caregivers to take part. Your feeback and ideas are extremely valuable as we develop our new services. We would like to thank everybody for their contribution but it was TAMMY PEARSE from Pinelodge who was pulled of the hat at random to take home the prize, a $50 voucher of her choice.