COVID-19 Pfizer Vaccine it’s nearly here…
We have now received confirmation that the Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccination has been TGA approved and is being prepared for rollout to Residents and Staff living and working with a Residential Aged Care Facility. Rollout is to commence late FEB early March 2021.
We have received notification that all aged care facilities will commence the Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine rollout at the end of February 2021.
We have all endured a difficult year with COVID-19 and all the restrictions that have been put in place, as we move to a “new normal”. We now have a chance to “tackle” COVID-19 head on by participating in the national vaccination program.
What we know about the Pfizer Vaccine is that it is now TGA (Therapeutic Goods Act) approved for use and administration in Australia.
As Residents residing in a residual aged care facility and aged care workers we are classed in the first category to receive the vaccine first.
The vaccine comes as an injection that is administered in x2 doses x2 weeks apart.
The vaccine is currently NOT MANDATORY in Australia, however we support and encourage residents to consider participating in the national vaccination program.
The 2021 Annual Influenza Vaccine is MANDATORY for all staff and anyone visiting a Residential Aged Care Facility as it was in 2020.
We can appreciate the nervousness and apprehension around the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine so please find attached some resources for reference and further information to keep you all informed.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-05/when-will-you-get-the-covid-19-vaccine/13112610
In the coming days / weeks staff across both homes will be speaking with Residents and / or their Representative to go through the consent process.
Visiting our Homes Update
We continue to support visitors at Ananda and follow the directions as set out by SA Health via the Emergency Management (COVID-19) (RACF) Directions and the Cross Borders Direction which are quickly often updated frequently depending on the national COVID-19 situation.
At present anyone entering SA from Greater Perth, Greater Melbourne and parts of NSW are not permitted to enter a Residential Aged Care Facility until a negative COVID swab has been received. This information does change frequently and we have the most recent Directions on display in both our homes.
We continue to watch closely the situation unfolding in Perth, Melb and now NSW regarding the new UK and South African strains of the COVID-19 virus.
Our residents and staff safety continues to be paramount.
Please remember to book your visits to the home so we have an going account of who is entering our homes and upon arrival complete the Entry to Site Checklist including a temperature check. Although we have relaxed our visiting times we must always know the total number of people in the home to ensure we meet social distancing guidelines.
We ask if you are visiting that you visit your loved one in their room and/or in a dedicated area in the home away from other residents.
Bain Marie Service
IT’S BACK …………….
Both Hope Valley and Findon are now enjoying the Bain Marie service at lunch and evening meal time. It is so wonderful to see residents enjoying the meals and choices.
At Findon, residengs “cheered” the frst day it came back and although we can only have up to 8 residents in the HUB dining room at once, it has been lovely seeing different residents attend.
One resident gave Chef Suresh a “thumbs up” followed by a request for seconds.
Well Done Kamal and Team it’s been a long time in welcoming the Bain Marie service back …… but it’s been worth the wait!!!
Person Centred Software
It’s exciting times ahead as we prepare to “GO LIVE” with our final phase of Person Centred Software or PCS.
We already have PCS fully embedded in our Findon home and from October 2020 we introduced this to our Hope Valley with great success. It am so pleased to announce that from Wednesday 10th February 2021 we will now “GO LIVE” in A2.
PCS will be our comprehensive Nursing Care Plan, Assessment, Progress Note and incident management system, as we move away from “paper based” documentation. You will see staff refer to green or black electronic devices that are password protected with resident care details.
PCS allows us to develop and implement individualised “planned care days” for each resident to truly represent resident focus care. This is done in consultation and collaboration with residents / their representative and strengths are commitment to a “partnership in care” model approach.
It has been wonderful to see the calibre of individualised care already seen in PCS in A1 and we can truly see the care that is being provided to the residents.
The idea behind PCS is that Clinical, Care and Wellness & Engagement staff will be able to input data to identify how we are meeting the residents individual care needs.
Staff have undertaken training in PCS and have educational resources and tools to support and guide them in the final phase of the PCS roll out. Our Project Lead Belinda has been busy inputting resident data and supporting staff as we transition to PCS.
PCS provides our staff with every residents individualised “planned care day” which has been developed to meet the residents care needs. PCS provides staff with the residents nursing care plan and progress notes.
Every resident will be undergoing a reassessment and having their care plans updated including their Integrated Clinical and Lifestyle Care Plan. Matt has done an excellent job with this for our residents in A1.
There is a COVID-19 contact function so we can quickly see which staff have been in contact with a resident in the event a COVID-19 swab result is positive or we have been advised by SA Health of a “close contact”.
For our night duty staff they are able to do nightly checks by using individualised QR codes that will be located by every residents bedside indicating that the residents care needs have been met overnight.
This is a monumental time for Ananda as we complete the process of moving to electronic documentation and providing evidence to support we are truly resident focused.
A huge thank you to our PCS Project Lead Belinda who has been instrumental in rolling out PCS.
We “GO LIVE” with our final phase of PCS in A2 on WEDNESDAY 10th FEBRUARY 2021………
For our Findon Residents/ Representatives it is hard to believe that you went LIVE with PCS on 18th FEB 2019 (almost 2 years ago) and you are all using the system so well evidencing Resident Focused Care.
Once again on behalf of all the Ananda Staff we thank you all for your ongoing support and encouragement it is very humbling.
