Health
With all eight districts in the province showing an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, what measures have she and her Department taken to ensure that (a) all medical staff members are being taken care of emotionally and physically and (b) the current circumstances do not have a negative impact on their families at home?
As a Department, we take pride in our very deliberate journey over the past 5 to 10 years to create an endearing organisational culture, where we listen to, respect and value all our staff members and their individual contributions.
As a management team, we are completely committed to serving our front-line staff members to the best of our abilities.
(a) and (b) In supporting our staff and their families, the Department has:
• Implemented an occupational health policy for our health care workers including implementing an occupational risk assessment for individual workers as well as area risk assessments to determine the risks per area where staff work.
• Implemented a policy for providing appropriate PPE to all our frontline staff.
• As a result of that endearing organisational culture, we have over 2000 volunteers (all different categories) who have volunteered to work for the DOH during this period. This obviously builds upon that legacy of listening to our staff and providing a culture of listening to our frontline staff.
• We are also able for example to offer accommodation close to hospitals where our frontline staff work. This is to avoid staff having to go home and place their families at risk.
• We have also prioritised testing for all our health care workers should they require testing.
• The department has an established Employee Health and Wellness Programme (EHWP) which is supported by the service provider Metropolitan.
• The EHWP support toll free line is 0800 611 093 is available to all employees and their household members at no cost to the employee.
• This service is there to assist the employee and their house-hold members in dealing with this crisis for free.
• The EHWP is there for leaders to chat about their concerns they may have. Leaders can refer employees that they are concerned about.
• Individual Counselling Sessions can take place via Micro-Soft Teams, Zoom, Skype and WhatsApp and now with regulations lifted these can be offered face to face.
• Onsite Counselling sessions is provided to the staff at various sites within the rural and metro areas.
The Aim for the Group sessions
• Provide validation to the staff as front-line workers.
• Address any feelings that may come up during the debriefing sessions.
• To provide psycho-social support as needed.
• Reduction in the stress levels of the staff by educating them about positive coping skills.
The above-mentioned group sessions provide employees with a safe space to share their feelings and thoughts, group members are given the opportunity to share how Covid-19 currently, impacts them psychologically, their family life, and their work environment.
The EHWP also provides practical advice on financial and basic legal issues that the employees might be grappling with during this COVID-19 period.
There is also support in the form of an APP called Hello Doctor which allows employees to access doctors anytime (24/7), on any phone and in all official languages. Any employee can access the service by simply dialling an USSD on their mobile phone and follow the menus. The doctor will call back and provide the right advice required based on the given symptoms and conditions at no cost to the employee.
