HAVING worked their way through everything the COVID pandemic has thrown at them, Mildura Base Public Hospital staff are now facing increased abuse and aggression from members of the public over restrictions that must remain in a health care setting, even if they’ve been relaxed for the general community.
“Just because the pressure’s off the community, the pressure’s not off us, and people have to respect that,” said hospital chief executive Terry Welch, who told Sunraysia Daily too many people were reacting angrily when told they had to be screened and wear masks, or that they could not visit patients.
“We are seeing community frustration, which is disappointing me greatly, and people do not understand why we have to screen still … rules are rules and we have to follow them,” Mr Welch said.
“Don’t get cross with our staff. They are only doing exactly as directed. That is the challenge we are facing.”
Mr Welch said hospital workers were now effectively living in two different worlds. At work they were required to wear protective clothing and undergo regular testing in what is deemed by the Victorian Government to be a “COVID-active” environment, but away from work they lived in a Sunraysia that looks increasingly like it did before the pandemic.
“You’ll see our staff in full PPE, we’re wearing masks, you are screened to come in, there are no visitors still, and that is at the direction of the Public Health Unit and the Chief Health Officer, and we’ll fully abide by those directions,” Mr Welch said.
“While the community is opening up, we are still highly vigilant, highly compliant and managing COVID.
“The void between what’s happening at community level and what’s happening at the hospital is growing as restrictions ease, and that’s affecting people’s understanding about what we have to continue to do.”
Mr Welch said the community in general, however, was to be congratulated on reaching a high vaccination rate and enduring lockdowns and other restrictions for more than 18 months.
That community, he said, should also know that its hospital had done an outstanding job through the crisis.
“The community should be really proud of this hospital and the work that we’ve done to keep people safe. We responded to one of the biggest community outbreaks in Victoria, 230 (cases) on our books, 53 (suspected COVID cases) in the wards at one stage, and we continued to function and that is a credit to this team.”
The hospital was now seeing far fewer suspected or confirmed COVID cases and had been able to begin a return to normal operations.
“Theatres are reopening, we’ve got our clinics restarting … COVID is now very manageable for us,” Mr Welch said.
