COVID-19 Update
Currently, taking into account staff with exemptions, 91% of EPC staff have had one dose of a vaccine and 81% have had both doses. Should the Victorian Government make this mandatory EPC will of course fully comply.
As you will be aware the current COVID-19 pandemic has caused many services in Australia to be disrupted.
EPC is considered an Essential Service under the current State of Emergency and as such, EPC has endeavoured to keep services running as normal to the best of our ability.
Restrictions are eased and then reinstated and this can alter how we work. We follow the guidelines as prepared by the Department of Health to ensure we are keeping you and our staff safe. At times this may mean that some services cannot be provided.
EPC is always concerned about your safety – we do not want to infect you or others with COVID-19, so please be aware that some services may be impacted more than others including clients who are using non-invasive ventilation, nebulizers or CPAP machines. These procedures are termed “aerosol generating procedures” and when there is community transmission these procedures may increase the risk of COVID-19 infections to EPC staff.
Volunteer services are also impacted during community transmission and where possible, transitioned to phone calls or video calls is enabled.
Clients who are stable may be offered a telehealth or phone assessment rather than a face to face assessment. Clients who are nearing death will be visited unless there is a reason this cannot happen.
Where you have visitors from overseas or from a Red Zone, there may be some restriction of services in order to keep other clients safe. This may include staff attending in full PPE and only telephone support available out of business hours, we will discuss the details of this with you.
Our goal is to ensure we provide the best community based specialist palliative care services as we have always done but also to keep everyone safe. To do this we depend on you to provide us with the information so that everyone can be kept safe.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to make contact and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Eastern Palliative Care (EPC) is a not-for-profit home-based palliative care service which offers a full range of support programs with the aim of improving the quality of life of individuals, carers and families of those suffering life-limiting or terminal illnesses. Clients can be referred by treating doctors, local hospitals, treating specialists, allied health professionals, by self or by family members and friends.
