KERANG District Health (KDH) is calm and prepared for the possibility the town will be cut off for up to two weeks due to rising floodwaters, its chief executive says.
A code brown has been declared at KDH, which allows the ability to redeploy staff and resources to areas of need.
KDH chief executive Kellie Byron-Gray said despite challenges, patients would still be looked after.
“We know that Kerang itself is not going to flood, so that has sort of given us a lot of confidence that we can provide a service locally here and ensure that our aged care residents who want to stay here can stay here, and they all want to stay,” Ms Byron-Gray told the Gannawarra Times.
“We have patients here as well and all of them were given the option to leave or be evacuated if need be, but there has been very few that have wanted to do that.”
While KDH have tried to keep everything they can up and running, certain services have had to be closed, including theatre procedures, exercise programs and social support programs.
“It is really disappointing for community members, but we need to redeploy those staff in other areas in the hospital,” Ms Byron-Gray said.
The biggest risk for KDH at the moment, Ms Byron-Gray believed, was the reduced workforce.
“Fifty-five percent of our staff live within the levy in the township and 45 percent out, so that is a significant hit to the workforce,” she said.
“We are working really hard and collaborating with Swan Hill District Health, Northern District Community Health and Cohuna District Health to look at our staffing because we have staff that live locally that work in other areas and vice versa – we have staff live in Swan Hill but might work in Kerang.
“So we are actually looking at doing some swaps with our staff and we are consulting with our staff.
“We are looking at 12-hour shifts and trying to stop our staff from burning out, because obviously we have got a bit of a reduced workforce, but it is looking quite positive at the moment.
“We are working really closely with the emergency communication centres, we’ve got the Incident Control Centre in Bendigo, the Department of Health, Ambulance Victoria, Victoria Police, Gannawarra Shire Council, Northern District Community Health – you name it, we are working with them. It’s a fantastic collaborative approach to emergency management.”
Ms Byron-Gray was also very appreciative of the whole community spirit in helping keep KDH open, as she herself was one of the staff who had to relocate to Kerang for the time being.
“There has been a lot of offers of accommodation, the town spirit is fantastic, so we have staff well-accommodated,” Ms Byron-Gray said.
“We are supporting all of our staff who need to be where they need to be, which might be on farms or it might be protecting houses in other areas and being with their families.
“There is no pressure for people to stay and work here, we are working and supporting our staff to do what they need to do during this really challenging time.”
KDH have also reached out to community members asking for volunteer assistance during the flood isolation period for things like aged care activities, delivery of meals and assisting in the hospital kitchen.
“Things are calm, people are all pulling together and we will work over weekends and do whatever we need to do to keep everything ticking along,” Ms Byron-Gray said.
“We’re safe here – we will be absolutely OK.”
For updates on KDH, look at their Facebook page, or contact Gannawarra Shire Council.
