Reflections from the CEO of Rochester & Elmore District Health Service As the flood water was coming down the Campapse River from Lake Eppalock we knew it was looking like being worse than the 2011 floods. We reviewed our Emergency Plans, but quickly learnt there is no time to look at them in any detail or use the raft of checklists contained in them. It was too quick a scenario and you just have to act in the moment and focus on what’s in front of you. We made our decisions really quickly and with the benefit of hindsight, I think they were sensible ones. Reflecting on that time is difficult because in many ways we are still experiencing it. Four months on, our staff are still living and working in the most extraordinary circumstances. 35% of staff have been directly impacted; their homes have been flooded and most are yet to be rebuilt. We are still not back in our own Health Service facility and continue to care for residents in dislocated workplace environments. But I hope that keeping staff informed about what their colleagues are up to across multiple sites and small extras like gift bag of goodies for Christmas and regular opportunities to re- connect with your colleagues have helped staff during the toughest times. Despite feeling pretty vulnerable, it was reassuring to know we could rely on our health network partners, emergency services and community members. We
electively transferred 17 residents the day before the flood to Kyabram, Echuca, Rushworth and Bendigo. The next day Bendigo Health and Goulburn Valley Health each offered us an empty acute ward to accommodate the 42 remaining residents we needed to evacuate. Some of our staff voluntarily went with them, despite knowing their own homes were likely to go underwater. We did one day coordinating the Emergency Recovery from the Elmore Pub and the next day Robyn Lindsay, CEO of Echuca Regional Health (ERH), rang and offered us their Boardroom and IT services, as our servers were all down and we had nowhere to operate from. By the next week we had our first demountable building delivered to the car park, so we could base ourselves back in Rochester. To keep services as close as possible to Rochester we opted to reinstate Home Care and Allied Health services in Elmore. Within days, staff were back at work; some while living in caravans or a shed or with neighbours or family. Four months in and almost every one of our staff is engaged back with us in some capacity. Looking back and thinking what we could or should have done differently, I think you just have to trust your instincts and trust your staff and be reassured that people want to help without hesitation. You’re
not alone. This is what the health network is about. Everybody was really supportive, even when facing their own impending crisis as the flood water made its way along the river toward them. Keeping everyone informed and optimistic was important. Initially I did this with daily email updates to all staff, and now with a weekly video update and a staff Facebook page. This has proven really helpful. The feedback I’ve received is that the regular updates were reassuring and people felt things were under control and going to be OK, which was the nicest thing for me. You can’t leave people in a vacuum where they don’t know what’s going on. Otherwise, they feel no one is there to look after them.
You have to trust your instincts and trust your staff and be reassured that people want to help without hesitation This is what the health network is about.
Karen Laing CEO Rochester and District Health Service
LMHN Regional Review | Issue 2 | Summer 2023
7
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker