Our thoughts are with all of our Members, Helpers and Five Good Friends staff who live in metropolitan Melbourne. The extension of the lockdown period is difficult. We will continue working hard to maintain your services and the safety and wellbeing of everyone. You can find information about the lockdown on the Victorian government coronavirus website.
We are distributing this information by email as it is the quickest way we can reach as many Five Good Friends Members as possible. We would be grateful if you shared this information to assist in its distribution.
COVID-19 Safe work practices
As we wrote to you last week, we have developed a regularly updated resource for all Five Good Friends staff, Helpers and Members. Our COVID-19 Safe work practices and Standard Operating Procedure are informed by Commonwealth and State Departments of Health. These documents provide guidance on how to safely manage and deliver services. We have sent communications to all Victorian Helpers advising them on key updates in response to this lockdown.
What does this mean for your services?
Visits can continue during the lockdown period. Helpers who work in metropolitan Melbourne must follow scenario 2B in the Standard Operating Procedure including wearing a mask, gloves and apron for all visits.
We continue to urge all Helpers and Five Good Friends team members to be vigilant in their management of COVID-19 and any symptoms. This includes cancelling visits if they have any concerns. If your Helper does need to cancel a visit at short notice we would be grateful for your understanding. We will work very hard to ensure your services continue with minimal disruption.
If you want to make a change to your visits you can discuss this directly with your Helpers. If you require further assistance please contact our Member Services Team on 1300 787 581 and select Option 1.
Public exposure sites
The Victorian coronavirus website provides a list of all current public exposure sites and the health advice to be followed if you were in attendance during the identified time period. This information can be found here.
Testing remains a priority for everyone
If you have symptoms of COVID-19 such as a cough, fever, sore throat, shortness of breath or runny nose, chills or sweat, even if these are mild, you should get tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible. You can also contact the Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398 for advice.
To arrange testing you can visit a COVID-19 testing clinic in your area. You can find testing locations on the Victorian government coronavirus website. Please advise us and your Helper if you are going to be tested.
Vaccination
Commonwealth and State health departments as well as expert health advisors such as the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) strongly encourage vaccination. To ensure the safety and wellbeing of our Members, Helpers, staff and the community Five Good Friends is following this advice by recommending vaccination. We understand there may be reasons (e.g. medical) that prevent vaccination.
If you have any concerns or questions please contact your Care Team via details in the App or the Member Services Team on 1300 787 581 and select Option 1.
We are grateful you have chosen Five Good Friends. We will continue to diligently monitor the COVID-19 situation and do our best to provide you safe, flexible, kind and consistent help and support.
Kind regards,
William Garton
Head of Quality and Programme Development
Five Good Friends
