COVID-19 and your Home Care Services

COVID-19 - information for Aboriginal Home Care customers

As the situation with COVID-19 in NSW grows more serious, we want to reassure you that we are doing everything we can to protect our Mob, particularly our Elders who we know may be feeling very vulnerable.

Our team members take their responsibility in protecting our customers very seriously, and we support them to work safely from home and isolate when necessary.

As a result of reduced staff available, it may be necessary to make changes to your services, and you may experience longer than normal wait times when contacting us.

We appreciate your patience and kindness during this time and will do everything possible to move back to our normal services as quickly as we can.

Five protection principles we’re using day-to-day

Our care workers are following five protection principles to ensure that services can be delivered as safely as possible. We are urging customers to follow these principles too.

• Stay home if you’re unwell and notify your branch
• Answer the pre-screening questions accurately ahead of each visit
• Apply social distancing, wherever possible
• Your care worker will wear PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), including a mask. We ask that you wear a mask too
• Practise good infection control by washing your hands regularly with soap and water

The importance of the pre-screening questions

Ahead of each service visit, our home care team will ask a series of questions to determine whether it’s safe to go ahead with the service. The questions include:

• Are you experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms?
• Are you, or someone you live with, isolating because of COVID-19?
• Are you, or someone you live with, awaiting COVID-19 test results?
• Have you, or someone you live with, travelled to a known COVID-19 exposure site or hotspot in the last 14 days?
• Have you, or someone you live with, knowingly breached public health orders or local restrictions?

It’s incredibly important that customers answer these questions accurately ahead of each visit, noting any details that may have changed since our last visit.

We’re proud to have a vaccinated workforce

At Australian Unity we strongly believe that vaccination against COVID-19 is the best way to protect our vulnerable customers and our people who care for and support them.

That’s why all Australian Unity employees are required to have the COVID-19 vaccination or a valid medical exemption. We are also encouraging all employees to get their booster when eligible.

You also may wish to investigate a COVID-19 vaccination booster for yourself. You may be able to make an appointment with your local doctor, pharmacy or online through a state-run vaccination clinic.

We can help you

We have got a lot of different services that you might not have used before, like getting your shopping, making meals and helping you get in touch with people you might not be able to visit in person for the time being using different technology.

Please contact your Service Coordinator or local branch to discuss any extra help you might need.