Year: 2021

20 September 2021

We are very pleased to welcome back visitors to Whiddon Moree, now the stay-at-home restrictions have been relaxed in the region.

We do want to remind you however, that there are some important guidelines for visiting Whiddon Moree.

NSW Health has advised that residents may have two visitors per day, provided that they do not come from an area that is under the stay-at-home Orders.

Please also note that visits must be pre-booked with our team and visitors must ensure:

• they wear a surgical mask
• they show evidence that they have received their flu vaccine (government requirement)
• they practice good hand hygiene and social distancing
• meet in the resident’s room and not in common areas
• they check-in through our visitor check-in system and the Service NSW app
• they do not visit if they have been to any COVID-19 hotspot venues or locations, or to any interstate locations of concern
• they do not visit if they are unwell and have any COVID-19 symptoms – fever (37. 5°C or higher) or symptoms of COVID-19
• they do not visit if they are a close contact of a person with confirmed COVID-19 and are within their self-isolation period
• they do not visit if they live in a household with a person who is currently self-isolating
• they do not visit if they are waiting for a COVID-19 test result

Residents are permitted to leave the facility and attend small family gatherings but must abide by the current COVID-19 Safety – gathering and movement restriction.  Please note that residents must not go into an area that is currently under a stay-at-home Orders.

Recently we have had some requests come through from our employees in relation to cashing out leave. Under usual circumstances the requirement is for employees to have taken leave in the last 12 months to be eligible to cash out a portion of their leave. We recognise that in over the last 18 months this may not have been possible. As a result, at the request of our employees Whiddon will relax this requirement for any employee who wishes to take up this option.

Eligibility:

To be eligible to cash out leave, employee’s will need to have at least 4 weeks of accrued leave left as a balance after cashing out a portion of their annual leave. This is a legislated requirement that cannot be amended.

If you are interested in cashing out a portion of your annual leave balance please complete the Cash out Leave form, sign it and provide it to your manager for approval. Completed forms must be signed and returned to payroll@whiddon.com.au by the 30 November 2021 to be eligible.

To access this form click here: Annual Leave Cash Out Form

17 September

We invite you to participate in a family satisfaction survey as your feedback is very important to us and helps us to improve our services.

To access the survey – please click on the link below. The survey will not take too long to complete and we appreciate your time in doing so.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KV82Q37 

17 September 2021

We are very pleased to let you know that all of our active residential aged care employees are now 100% first dose vaccinated or have a valid exemption. 75% of these employees are fully vaccinated (both doses). As you may know, the Government mandate comes into effect today and means that all residential aged care employees must have had at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. We are 100% compliant with this. In addition, although not mandatory, 93% of our Community Care team members are vaccinated with only 4 services less than 100%.

We thank all of our employees for rolling up their sleeves and being proud to protect. With 2,800 amazing team members needing to be vaccinated, our teams have worked incredibly hard over the last two and a half months since the mandate was announced, and before then as our goal has always been to see our employees vaccinated, to reach this milestone. We arranged onsite clinics to make the vaccine more accessible, encouraged our teams to receive their vaccine by running a number of campaigns, and supported them in the process of having their vaccine.

The vaccine is an important line of defence in our fight against COVID-19 and we hope this update provides you with some further reassurance. Our highest priority is to keep our residents, clients and employees safe and well. We also encourage family members visiting our aged care homes to have their vaccine. While it is not compulsory for visitors to our care homes to have the COVID-19 vaccination as yet, it does provide an important layer of protection.

We hope you are well and staying safe. As always, if you have an questions, please contact us on 1300 738 388, email us at hello@whiddon.com.au or speak to your Community Care Coordinator.

Please stay safe and well.

The Whiddon team

17 September 2021

We are very pleased to let you know that all of our active residential aged care employees are now 100% first dose vaccinated or have a valid exemption. 75% of these employees are fully vaccinated (both doses). As you may know, the Government mandate comes into effect today and means that all residential aged care employees must have had at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. We are 100% compliant with this. In addition, although not mandatory, 93% of our Community Care team members are vaccinated with only 4 services less than 100%.

We thank all of our employees for rolling up their sleeves and being proud to protect. With 2,800 amazing team members needing to be vaccinated, our teams have worked incredibly hard over the last two and a half months since the mandate was announced, and before then as our goal has always been to see our employees vaccinated, to reach this milestone. We arranged onsite clinics to make the vaccine more accessible, encouraged our teams to receive their vaccine by running a number of campaigns, and supported them in the process of having their vaccine.

The vaccine is an important line of defence in our fight against COVID-19 and we hope this update provides you with some further reassurance. Our highest priority is to keep our residents, clients and employees safe and well. We also encourage family members to have their vaccine. While it is not compulsory for visitors to our care homes to have the COVID-19 vaccination as yet, it does provide an important layer of protection.

We also wanted to take this opportunity to remind you about our new app, Whiddon Connect, which we encourage you to download. You can book in video chats with your loved one on this app by contacting the team at your loved one’s care home. You can also see COVID-19 updates and photos of your loved one enjoying activities. For more information on Whiddon Connect click here.

We hope you are well and staying safe. As always, if you have an questions, please contact us on 1300 738 388, email us at hello@whiddon.com.au or contact the team where your loved one lives.

Please stay safe and well.

The Whiddon team

16 September 2021

Pleasingly, the Narrabri Local Government area is no longer under NSW Health stay-at-home Orders. As a result, we want to provide you with an update relating to our care homes in this area (Whiddon Narrabri Jessie Hunt, Whiddon Narrabri Robert Young and Whiddon Wee Waa) and what this means for visitors and resident outings.

We are pleased to say that residents may now have two visitors per day, provided that they do not come from an area that is under the stay-at-home Orders.

Visits must be pre-booked with our team and visitors must ensure:

• they wear a surgical mask
• they show evidence that they have received their flu vaccine (government requirement)
• they practice good hand hygiene and social distancing
• meet in the resident’s room and not in common areas
• they check-in through our visitor check-in system and the Service NSW app
• they do not visit if they have been to any COVID-19 hotspot venues or locations, or to any interstate locations of concern
• they do not visit if they are unwell and have any COVID-19 symptoms – fever (37. 5°C or higher) or symptoms of COVID-19
• they do not visit if they are a close contact of a person with confirmed COVID-19 and are within their self-isolation period
• they do not visit if they live in a household with a person who is currently self-isolating
• they do not visit if they are waiting for a COVID-19 test result

Residents are permitted to leave the facility and attend small family gatherings but must abide by the current COVID-19 Safety – gathering and movement restriction.  Please note that residents must not go into an area that is currently under a stay-at-home Orders.

As a reminder, we also have our new app, Whiddon Connect, that we encourage you to download. You can book in video chats with your loved one on this app by contacting our team. You can also see COVID-19 updates and photos of your loved one enjoying activities. For more information on Whiddon Connect click here.

We thank you for your understanding and support as we know it has been a difficult time.

15 September 2021

On behalf of all of us at Whiddon Redhead, we hope you are well. While we will always update you if anything changes around visitation or COVID-19 restrictions, we want to provide you with a general update on Whiddon Redhead.

While some regions in NSW have come out of stay-at-home Orders, the Lake Macquarie region still remains under the Orders, and as such, NSW Health advice remains that we are unable to permit visitors at this time, unless under exceptional circumstances, permitted in line with NSW Health advice. This will need prior approval.

We understand that this is a difficult time and we want you to know that our teams are working hard to keep you connected to your loved ones through phone and video calls wherever possible. We also have our new app, Whiddon Connect, that we encourage you to download.  You can book in video chats with your loved one on this app by contacting our team. You can also see COVID-19 updates and photos of your loved one enjoying activities .For more information on Whiddon Connect click here.

Please remember that if you would like to talk to us about your loved one’s care or if you have any concerns, please contact our team.

We thank you for your understanding at this time and we will provide a further update once we receive any further advice.

15 September

Dear team member,

According to our records we don’t have a record of your second COVID-19 vaccination. If you have had your second vaccination please forward evidence of this to EP.Vaccinations@whiddon.com.au

As a reminder there is a COVID Vaccine Clinic on Tuesday September 21^st at Easton Park. This will be held in the function centre commencing at 10am.

This in-reach COVID-19 vaccination clinic is for second dose Pfizer Vaccine only. If you have not already booked this in, please do so by registering through the below link. Please note if you are having difficulty opening this link, try again to open using Google Chrome.

To register click: https://portal.companymedicalservices.com.au/onsiteregistration/whiddon and use the Referral code: whid123

Thank you,

Sharon Fletcher
Operations Manager
Whiddon Easton Park

13 September 2021

Some areas of NSW are no longer under NSW Health stay-at-home Orders. As a result, we want to provide you with an update relating to our care homes in these areas and what this means for visitors and resident outings.

Update for our care homes in areas NO LONGER UNDER NSW Health stay-at-home Orders (Casino, Grafton, Kyogle, Laurieton, Maclean, Moree, Temora and Wingham)

Residents may have two visitors per day, provided that they do not come from an area that is under the stay-at-home Orders.

Visits must be pre-booked with our team and visitors must ensure:

• they wear a surgical mask
• they practice good hand hygiene and social distancing
• meet in the resident’s room and not in common areas
• they check-in through our visitor check-in system and the Service NSW app
• they do not visit if they have been to any COVID-19 hotspot venues or locations, or to any interstate locations of concern
• they do not visit if they are unwell and have any COVID-19 symptoms – fever (37. 5°C or higher) or symptoms of COVID-19
• they do not visit if they are a close contact of a person with confirmed COVID-19 and are within their self-isolation period
• they do not visit if they live in a household with a person who is currently self-isolating
• they do not visit if they are waiting for a COVID-19 test result

Residents in care homes not under stay-at-home Orders (as per the locations above):

• Are permitted to leave the facility and attend small family gatherings but must abide by the current COVID-19 Safety – gathering and movement restrictions
• Must not go into an area that is currently under a stay-at-home Orders

10 September 2021

On behalf of all of us at Whiddon Easton Park, we hope you are well. While we will always update you if anything changes around visitation or COVID-19 restrictions, we wanted to provide you with a general update on Whiddon Easton Park.

Employee vaccination rates
We are very pleased to share with you that 99.5% of our active employees have received their first dose of the vaccine. With a week to go until the Government mandate comes into effect, we are well on track to reach the milestone of all employees having had at least their first dose of the vaccine. We thank our teams for rolling up their sleeves and having the vaccine.

Rapid antigen testing survey results
We thank those who participated in our rapid antigen testing survey. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and we wanted to share the key results with you. You can read the survey results here.

Father’s Day
Our teams worked hard to make this day special for our male residents. We delivered some sweet treats, held afternoon teas and happy hours, and helped facilitate video and phone calls with loved ones wherever possible. We understand that this is a difficult time and our team wanted to make the day as special as possible.

Staying connected with us
If you would like to talk to us about your loved one’s care or if you have any concerns, please contact our team. As a reminder, the phone numbers are below:

For Arthur Webb Court: 02 9827 6725
For Easton Park Units: 02 9827 6669
For Sir David Martin: 02 9827 6666
For Taylor House: 02 9827 6686

Take care and thank you for your understanding and support.