Day: April 9, 2020

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Latest industry developments

New South Wales government steps up to help social isolation in seniors

Here is a great idea that you might be able to use if you are in NSW – and think about elsewhere.

The NSW Liberal government late last week launched the Combating Social Isolation for Seniors during COVID-19 Grant Program.

These grants are available to organisations (like villages and operators) to help create programs that foster social inclusion for seniors activities.

The grants must help older people connect with each other through online engagement or other ways,

Example programs could include:

a service provider starting a program of social support calls to isolated seniors (an example would be your emergency call centre doing outbound calls to residents – INS is one supplier that does this)
running regular online conference calls for groups meeting up such as craft, men’s sheds, etc. ‘House Party’ is a popular app for this and you may get funding to drive it
creating an online cafe or carer support group
Even if you’re not based in NSW it is worth doing some research into other grants that may be available for seniors during the pandemic.

A great place to start is obviously google but don’t forget your Local Member is also likely to have information in relation to possible grant options for a program you maybe wanting to get off the ground.

Categories
Key things to help you everyday

‘Complaints’ in a pandemic….but wait, there is help

We all know that communication is paramount in operating Retirement Living communities.

With COVID-19 I am confident the communications from operators to residents have been many, but so too am I confident the communications from residents to operators have been plentiful as well.

Normally our preferred communication style is face to face, but that is not ‘socially isolating’.

We have less opportunity to walk around the village, and less likely to be able to be present to minimise rumours (which is no doubt heightened).

For complaints in the past we may have visited in person and resolved a complaint in person, or at the very least relied on visual cues and personal relationships to verify the differences between someone venting Vs a complaint/dispute to be managed.

So it is a time where written, emailed or text information prevails, but these can so often be taken the wrong way or misinterpreted; and the information to hand suggests this is the way we will be operating for some many months.

I suggest it may be beneficial to revisit how complaints and disputes can be managed. If you’re not sure where to start with a review, then perhaps using the Retirement Living Code of Conduct guidelines as a tool is a good place to start.

If you are a DCM Institute participant, we have put together some best practice guides for complaint and dispute management that will be shared during this month’s topic.

If you are not a current member and would like us to share with you some of these tools please contact Judy Martin at
judym@dcmmedia.com.au and we would be only too happy to share them with you too.

Categories
Reporting Results

Survey: how is the COVID-19 pandemic impacting you and your communities?

We at the DCM Institute are committed to continue to provide industry specific tools, resources and support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to assist you in your day to day operations.

We want to understand what is working, what you are finding challenging and what solutions you require.

We have created an online survey to help the sector understand how village communities are navigating the changes required for the coronavirus.

The findings will be released back to you and used by us to build future tools and resources of support, and to help inform businesses, industries and governments on how they can provide services and support to benefit and improve the lives of older Australians and the village teams that support them.

Keep an eye out in your inbox, you will receive an email for the survey 5 minutes after receiving this newsletter.

Please, can I request you take 5 minutes to complete this short survey.

Categories
Things to watch

Can you tell residents about a COVID-19 case in the village – check the Privacy Act

Can you tell residents about a COVID-19 case in the village – check the Privacy Act
A common question asked of us in recent days by Village Managers has been around whether or not operators are able to notify the resident population if a resident has:

notified them that they are self-isolating after a close contact
been directed to self-isolate by the public health system
or has been confirmed as having COVID-19 and directed to return to their home
My admired colleague Danielle Lim from Queensland base law firm DSL Law shared last week the importance of the Privacy Act implications that may be required to be considered by retirement living operators prior to making these decisions.

Danielle shared, “If the unfortunate situation of a confirmed COVID-19 case occurs within the community, there are some privacy implications involved in disclosing the identity of the infected resident”.

“The Privacy Act would normally require that consent is obtained from the infected resident before their identity is disclosed”.

“Although privacy guidance has been updated in response to COVID-19, the best response remains to take reasonable steps to obtain ‘consent’ prior to disclosing specific details about a resident’s situation and personal details”.

In my own experience to date, if you are able to contact the most local Public Health department to the village location, they too will assist you with your decision by providing information on the likely public health risk to the surrounding community.

However Danielle went on to say:

“Following a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 within a community, this news should be disclosed to residents and staff, without disclosing the infected person’s identity”.

“In a situation in which an infected person refuses to self-isolate, it is likely that exemptions within the Privacy Act would enable their identity to be disclosed to the community for the purpose of protecting people from exposure to the virus”.

We understand how challenging this situation is for you as the Village Manager balancing the risk to the wider community and the legal rights of each resident.

We have developed a simple guide in dealing with this situation from an operational view to help you at https://www.tearainstitute.co.nz/covid-19-village/.