Updates

Blog: Disaster response lessons from the pandemic

As the emergency response to coronavirus continues, the need to remain vigilant has been highlighted, especially with recent developments in South Australia which led to another hard lockdown at very short notice. The lessons from COVID-19 remind us that we must remain prepared in our response to the pandemic.

When an emergency or crisis event strikes a community, frontline organisations are often called upon to deliver immediate assistance – often responding well beyond their funding means to keep people safe and well.

The public health emergency inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic has had wide-ranging impacts on people across Australia, and while everyone has been affected in some way, not every story is the same. People who previously never needed assistance suddenly found themselves accessing the support of frontline community services for the very first time.

Join a webinar to hear lessons from Victoria

Victoria has just emerged from a sixteen-week lockdown which has seen COVID-19 numbers fall from more than 700 new infections per day, to zero. This public health achievement placed considerable pressure and cost on frontline community organisations.

In a webinar on Wednesday 2 December, from 2:00pm to 3:00pm, Queensland Council of Social Service will bring together representatives of the Victorian social service sector to reflect on the recent COVID-19 lockdown and what it meant for staff and client support.

Event panelists will share their learnings on a wide range of issues, including challenges in delivering services during the lockdown for different client groups, reflections on what worked and what did not, and lessons for future pandemics and disasters.

Find out more and register here.

Lessons to stop the spread

TAFE Queensland currently offers a subsidised course enabling people to return to work with the skills and knowledge to implement strategies and practices that will help you safeguard yourself, your colleagues and your clients from COVID-19.

In this course you’ll learn how to follow standard and additional precautions for infection prevention and control. Discover how to implement standard and transmission-based precautions, and respond to infection risks in the workplace.

You’ll also discover how to identify, separate, and clean contaminated zones with a heightened level of diligence.

This unit is offered online. To find out more and enrol visit the TAFE Queensland website.

Other resources

You can find all the latest COVID-19 information and resources for the community sector right here on Community Door.