Amana Living, one of the largest providers of retirement living and aged care services in Western Australia, is taking a proactive approach to vaccinating its staff, offering buses to take them to COVID-19 vaccination clinics.
“Our buses have been very popular. After the first bus was a success, we immediately put on other buses, and are really grateful to the staff for jumping on board,” said Stephanie Buckland, Amana Living CEO.
“There’s a real camaraderie on the buses, and the staff support each other while they are being vaccinated and after. We will be running more buses to take the staff back for their second doses.”
“The WA Health Department has been very supportive of the buses by giving us bulk bookings to get staff through as quickly as possible. Some staff have told me they felt like royalty when they were prioritised at the clinic.”
Queensland is the latest state, following Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia, to issue Public Health Orders mandating aged care workers must have at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to work from 17 September. Amana Living has more than 1,640 staff across the organisation.
“About half of our residential aged care workers have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Our site managers are looking at rosters to help people have time to attend clinics. We are also communicating regularly with staff to make sure they understand the Government’s decision,” said Ms Buckland.
“This is much the same as the flu vaccination, although, as with the general population, there has been some hesitancy. The Government has guaranteed that residential aged care workers will receive the Pfizer vaccine, should they want it. That has helped. As for those who are still hesitant, we can only encourage them to access credible information.”
With the 17 September deadline approaching, Amana is now calling on every staff member who has not provided proof of their vaccine to remind them of the Government directions.
“They all understand that they cannot work in residential aged care if they don’t have a flu vaccination, and the new directions are very similar,” said Ms Buckland. “It has the same exceptions and the same penalties for failing to comply as the current directives for entering an aged care facility.”
