{"id":1652,"date":"2020-05-15T11:38:20","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T01:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.hearthaustralia.com.au\/?p=1652"},"modified":"2021-07-16T08:46:49","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T22:46:49","slug":"hearth-covid-19-action-plan-update-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.hearthaustralia.com.au\/hearth-covid-19-action-plan-update-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearth COVID \u2013 19 Action Plan – Update (3)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Welcome to the Hearth Teams Action Plan\nUpdate (3)<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Victorian Premiers announcement<\/a> on May 11 was indeed good news i.e. \u201cOver the past two weeks, we\u2019ve\ntested more than 160,000 Victorians for coronavirus. The job is not done yet<\/strong>\n\u2013 and that size and scale of testing will continue to be a big part of our\nresponse in the weeks and months to come. But because of that initial data,\nwe\u2019ve been able to get a better understanding of the way the virus is moving\nthrough our community<\/strong>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday \u2013 thanks to the efforts of\nVictorians \u2013 I can announce our cautious next steps<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, it was a stark\nreminder that the COVID-19 pandemic<\/strong> is unfortunately not over! Our\nassumption is that COVID-19 will impact the Victorian community for at least\nanother 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, we continue to take\nCOVID-19 extremely seriously and we continue to adapt and develop our Action\nPlan accordingly to respond to the impact of COVID-19 as does the rest of the\nVictorian community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following updates from our plan may be of interest: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to School<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most significant change this week\nhas been the Victorian Premiers announcement<\/a>\non May 12 that, \u201cfrom Tuesday 26\nMay<\/strong>, all Prep, Grade 1 and Grade 2 students, specialist school students, as\nwell as VCE and VCAL students will return to on-site learning at government\nschools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents\nin the broader year 3 to 10 cohort will continue to learn remotely until Tuesday\n9 June<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you need to modify your Support Worker schedule, please do not hesitate to contact your Relationship Manager who can facilitate any changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NDIS Funding for Home Schooling <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the Victorian Premiers previous\nannouncement<\/a> on the April 7 \u201cAll Victorian government primary, secondary and special\nschools will move to remote and flexible learning and teaching\u201d, some\nparticipants required additional support<\/strong> to assist \u201chome schooling\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The direct impact of additional support\nis additional cost<\/strong> which has not been factored into the participants\napproved NDIS plan and funding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We covered the Hearth approach to\ndealing with this variation to plan in detail in our previous COVID-19 Action Plan Update (2)<\/a> including our downloadable \u201cAdditional Funding for\nCOVID-19 Process\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you would like to discuss your \u201cadditional program cost\u201d, please do not hesitate to contact your Relationship Manager who can assist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearth Business\nContinuity \u2013 With Increased Hygiene Initiatives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are continuing to deliver the essential service of disability support<\/strong> and are taking every step to maintain the safety of our participants and support workers. We are taking several new measures to assist this endeavour including.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a) Working from Home<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since March 16, 80 % of Hearth Head Office staff have been working at home. We are currently formulating a longer-term plan and associated policies to formalise \u201cworking from home\u201d into the way we operate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

b) Voluntary use of the Australian Governments COVIDSafe app<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are encouraging all Hearth employees to download the COVIDSafe<\/a> app so the Health Authorities \u201ccan find and contain outbreaks quickly\u201d. Downloading the new COVIDSafe app is completely voluntary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

c) Voluntary Flu vaccination for all staff<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are encouraging and subsidising all Hearth employees to be vaccinated against the 2020 influenza<\/p>\n\n\n\n

d) Physical distancing and hygiene<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As more employees return to work, we continue to practice\nphysical distancing and strict hygiene measures continue to be observed. The\nfollowing provides a summary of the key steps we are taking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n