Monday 20 April 2020Health news2 minutes to read
Home and Community Support Worker Hiedi Richards.
West Coast DHB’s Home and Community Support Services team has continued to provide support to clients across the Coast during COVID-19 alert level 4,” Home and Community Support Services Manager Steve Johnston says.
“Prior to lockdown, we contacted all our clients – around 630 people – to find out what their support needs were and to identify any areas where we could potentially cut down household management if we needed to. By doing this, we were able to identify clients who could manage by themselves or who had other supports available to them.
“There were a number of instances where a family/whānau member moved in with their loved one to take care of them. This level of support from the community meant that we were able to reprioritise our services to ensure everyone continued to get the assistance they need during this time.”
On average, our team of 85 Support Workers make around 2,000 home visits each week supporting people with a range of activities like medication management, showering, falls risk assessments, cleaning and meal preparation.
“Early into lockdown, members of the community expressed concerned to some of the team because they were moving about in the community and entering someone else’s bubble. To address this, our Support Workers are now wearing vests identifying who they are and signage has been added to the vehicles.”
“Our Support Workers provide a really valuable Coast-wide service to the community. I am really proud of the team’s resilience, professionalism and courage especially as their combined efforts have gone a long way to making sure our clients remain well supported and connected,” Mr Johnston says.
ENDS
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Page last updated: 20 April 2020
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