Mildura Base Hospital (MBH) has been overwhelmed by the show of solidarity from the community in support of the ongoing COVID-19 response planning and implementation.
Mildura’s key health service providers, Mildura Base Hospital, Sunraysia Community Health Service and Mildura Health Private Hospital are working together to maximise local resources available to respond to coronavirus.
But MBH Chief Executive Officer, Adam Stevenson, said the community’s encouragement and willingness to support the hospital in this trying time had been amazing.
“The amount of work that is going in from a health service point of view can’t be underestimated, and I think the community has very quickly come to understand how serious we are taking this,” Mr Stevenson said.
“Our goal is to ensure our community is self-sufficient in our efforts due to our remote positioning – it’s a unique approach, but being independent and self-reliant is what Mildura has always done, and people have really responded to that.
“Staff have had personal messages of support, we’ve been contacted by community members to say thank you for what we’re doing, there have been offers of practical support from community groups and we’ve had local businesses, big and small contributing by dropping in meals and offering a number of discounts to our staff and all health care workers.
“It’s been amazing, and we thank all of those people, because it does make a difference to know that the community understands and appreciates what we are doing.”
Mr Stevenson said calls for expressions of interest to form a supplementary workforce register had received a huge response.
“Up until Tuesday, we had received 170 expressions of interest from people who have skills that may play a role in our community response to COVID-19,” he said.
“We’ve been contacted by skilled and unskilled people who have backgrounds including administration, personal care, nursing and paramedics.
“We’re currently processing all expressions of interest and preparing to get in touch with each and every one of them about the next steps, such as obtaining or providing working with children checks and police clearances and other pre-employment requirements.”
“We’ve already appointed a number of new staff who will be helping with screening people, in line with the tighter restrictions on visitors to the hospital.
“We wish to sincerely thank those people who are supporting us in any way. The challenge we are facing will test us as a community, but it’s encouraging so many people are willing to be part of the solution.”
