4 August 2021
The decision to place a loved one in aged care can be daunting enough without the added complication of the COVID world to consider. Rest-assured at Southern Cross Care Queensland (SCCQ) we’ve thought of that and planned ahead for you – so there’s no need to put off making the life-changing decision to seek support.
With more than 40 years of aged care experience behind us, we’ve also notched up more than 18 months’ experience of safely and compassionately taking care of our most vulnerable people in a pandemic environment.
With the additional strain of a COVID-environment weighing on most people, we firmly believe that listening to and responding to the needs of our communities has never been more important.
Over 1,000 residents call SCCQ home, and a further 900 people within the local communities across Queensland are supported by us. Our residents’ wellbeing and safety are absolutely our top priorities.
SCCQ Chief Operating Officer, Michael Wild, said he was immensely proud of the SCCQ team who had continued to adapt and innovate to ensure the mental and physical wellbeing of those who trust us with their care always comes out on top.
“In response to the COVID-19 crisis, we have activated a dedicated Outbreak Advisory Committee made up of clinical leaders who meet every week or more often if needed to carefully monitor the current climate and expert health guidelines. This is to ensure best practice protocols and infection controls at SCCQ remain up-to-date and ready for any contingency,” Michael said.
“In addition, we maintain a rigorous program of gathering customer insights, continuously engaging with our families and residents to understand their individual needs and how we can best meet them and ensure our service delivery continues to hit the mark,” he explained.
Based on those valuable insights from across the SCCQ community, a number of new initiatives have been introduced to help families and their loved ones maintain contact and peace-of-mind even when COVID lockdowns are at play.
“We understand that feeling connected to loved ones especially during stressful times like a pandemic is vitally important, so all our Residential Care Homes can facilitate video conference calls on extra large screens between residents and their families whenever required,” Michael said.
“We can also arrange restricted access visitations on compassionate grounds on a case by case basis, and our team personally calls at least one member of every resident’s family during lockdowns to undertake two-way welfare checks,” he added.
To maintain that, we employ a team of more than 1,000 highly trained people, who are nurses, allied health professionals, personal care assistants, hospitality staff, maintenance staff, drivers and volunteers, support service staff, administrators, management and more – all dedicated to serving with courage and compassion, especially at this difficult time.
“As extraordinary as it may seem, we’ve actually seen our overall Net Promoter Score go up during the pandemic across all our services, and I put that down to the compassionate, responsive care of our team, who have really taken on board the feedback from those in our care, even when it presents a challenge,” Michael said.
