COVID-19 is most likely to spread from person-to-person through:

• Direct close contact with a person while they are infectious.
• Contact with droplets from an infected person’s coughs or sneezes, or
• Touching objects or surfaces (such as door handles or tables) contaminated from a cough or sneeze from a person with a confirmed infection, and then touching your mouth, nose, eyes or face. Most infections are only transmitted by people when they have symptoms. These can include fever, a cough, sore throat, tiredness and shortness of breath.

Practising good hand and sneeze/cough hygiene and social distancing is the best defence against most viruses. You should:

• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water, before and after eating, and after going to the toilet or use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser unless your hands are visibly dirty
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
• Cover your cough and sneeze with a tissue, dispose of tissues, and use alcohol-based hand sanitiser or wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.
• Maintain a good social distance. It is recommended to stay at least 2m away from others.

If you develop symptoms (fever, a cough, sore throat, tiredness or shortness of breath), you should arrange to see your doctor for urgent assessment. It may be possible for this to happen by phone. Please call your doctor’s surgery in advance for instructions. When you telephone your doctor’s surgery (or health+ clinic or hospital if it is not possible to contact your doctor), you should tell them your travel history and if you may have been in contact with a potential or confirmed case of coronavirus. If you are severely unwell, such as having difficulty breathing, call 000 (triple Zero)

If you are a customer of ACH Group’s we ask that you advise us immediately if you are being tested or diagnosed with COVID-19 so we can ensure your safety and that of our workforce.

Some people who are infected may not get sick at all, some will get mild symptoms from which they will recover easily, and others may become very ill, very quickly. From previous experience with other coronaviruses, the people at most risk of serious infection are:

• People with compromised immune systems, such as people with cancer
• Older people
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• Very young children and babies, and
• People with diagnosed chronic medical conditions.

All front line staff undertake temperature checks at the beginning of their shift. Our staff are also skilled in infection control and the use of PPE if required. Strict hygiene practices are used and all sites require visitor declarations to be completed prior to entry. All ACH Group Residential Care homes have restricted access to keep our residents and workforce safe.

Visiting hours are 7 days a week between 1 and 4pm, and 6 – 8pm on Tuesday’s and Thursday evenings. For more information on visiting requirements, please visit our ‘Site Entry Requirements’.

Outside of these hours, we are prioritising ways to help keep you connected with your loved ones, and are using technology across all homes to facilitate this. We have heard of lots of heartwarming stories and seen photos with site staff, families and residents all coming up with lovely ways of staying in touch.

Consider what is essential to your care and reduce the amount of people coming in and out of your home where you can. Talk to us about what you consider essential and what can be put on hold for now.

Be assured all our workers understand the necessity for good infection prevention controls when providing services.

It is not necessary to ask your support workers to wear face masks. They will wear a face mask when it is clinically indicated. Surgical masks in the community are only helpful in preventing people who have coronavirus (COVID-19) from spreading it to others. If you are well and your support worker is well, you do not need to wear surgical masks as there is little evidence supporting the widespread use of surgical masks in healthy people to prevent transmission in public.

All Support Workers will wear the appropriate personal protective equipment when it is clinically advised to do so.

As part of our normal service, if your regular Support Worker is currently unable to attend for any reason, ACH Group will organise a replacement worker to provide your services.

The risk of serious illness from COVID-19 increases with age. The highest rate of fatalities is among older people, particularly those with other serious health conditions or a weakened immune system. There is currently no cure or vaccine for COVID-19, or immunity in the community.

For people living with dementia or some form of cognitive impairment, the ability to follow instruction or to alert others about potential symptoms may be a challenge. This is especially so where there is a limited capacity to communicate verbally or express pain and discomfort. In this situation, observation by someone who knows the person with dementia may assist in identifying changes in their health.

It is very important that you reduce your risk of getting other illnesses while COVID-19 remains in our community. There is no vaccine for COVID-19. However, it is important that you get the 2020 flu vaccination as soon as possible.

Discuss with your doctor whether you should have a pneumococcal vaccination against pneumonia, which is recommended for everyone over 65. You should also discuss having a shingles vaccination.

Please note – as of 1 May anyone entering or working at an Aged Care Home must have had an up to date flu vaccination.

Customers with Home Care Packages have flexibility with how they spend their funds over a wide range of care and services to support to stay safe, healthy and independent in their home.

With support from the Australian Government, ACH Group is working hard to meet people’s needs during this crisis.

The services you currently receive through your Home Care Package will continue. However, there may be some changes to the way service is delivered. For example, home care staff may change the way that personal care is done to limit person-to-person touch where possible, or wear masks and gloves where they may not have previously.

If you are concerned about the way your current services are being delivered or would like to make changes to your services because of the COVID-19 outbreak, please contact ACH Group. You can also speak with us about changes to your usual services, such as arranging help to go to the shops or arranging your carer to shop on your behalf.

The government is encouraging people aged 70+ to self-isolate. If there are extra services you require such as tasks that family or friends may have assisted you with, please speak to your Advisor as additional funding may be available to cover these services for you.

If we need to make changes to your package due to developing restrictions, we will let all customers affected by any changes know, if and when these changes occur.

The Australian Government Department of Health has published an information sheet about home care guideline during COVID-19. Click here to view or download the info sheet.

As part of the COVID-19 National Health Plan the Australian Government has increased access to bulk billed MBS telehealth and telephone services and fast tracked electronic prescribing of medicines.

The Australian Government’s Telehealth scheme allows doctors, nurses and mental health professionals to deliver services via telehealth (video link) or by telephone, provided those services are bulk billed, to those people who are 70+ years of age (or 50+ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people); people self-isolating at home; or those with chronic health conditions or are immunocompromised.

Patients are encouraged to contact their health service providers to ask about the availability of telehealth and telephone services. Examples of possible video applications include FaceTime and Skype, noting that medical practitioners must be satisfied that their chosen options for telehealth and telephone services meet current standards and laws regarding privacy and information security.

The Australian Government is creating measures to allow prescriptions remotely and have their medicines home delivered to reduce their potential exposure to COVID-19. This measure complements the expanded use of telehealth under Medicare, and is available to those people who are 70+ years of age (or 50+ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people); people self-isolating at home; or those with chronic health conditions or are immunocompromised. The Australian Government will fast track the implementation of electronic prescribing (ePrescribing) to help protect people most at-risk in our community from exposure to COVID-19. This will allow a doctor to prepare an electronic prescription that patients will then be able to electronically share with their pharmacy, where the pharmacy is able to support the home delivery of medicines.

More information on the COVID-19 National Health Plan is available at https://www.health.gov.au/resources/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-national-health-plan-resources

ACH Group have a SHOP and DROP service where can do your shopping and either deliver it to your door or unpack it for you.

Rest assured we will deliver a safe service with our highly equipped staff who are trained in infection control and will do everything possible to protect you, your family and home. We can also cater to a variety of payment methods.

If English is your second language, you may prefer to access translated information on COVID-19 prevention and support from the Australian Government Department of Health in a range of different languages. Visit: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/translated