Co.As.It. Shines in the Eyes of Clients and Regulator

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Co.As.It. Community Services Ltd comes up trumps in regulator’s audit.  100% compliance was achieved in all eight of the new Aged Care Quality Standards. The performance report is available to view by the public on the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission website. https://www.agedcarequality.gov.au/services/coasit-community-services-700747

The organisation has undergone triennial audits since 2000 and has always met the relevant service standards.  The New Aged Care Quality Standards have been implemented by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and came into force from 1st July 2019. For each standard, providers must demonstrate that they:

·      understand the requirement;

·      apply the requirement, and this is clear in the way they provide care and services;

·      monitor how they are applying the requirement and the outcomes they achieve; and

·      review outcomes and adjust their practices based on these reviews to keep improving.

 

Conducted over three days, auditors spoke to clients, community care workers, co-ordinators, clinical and allied health team leaders and management to confirm Co.As.It.’s compliance with the standards that stipulate eight outcomes for clients. Each standard stipulates a client outcome addressing the following:

1.    Consumer dignity and choice

2.    Ongoing assessment and planning with consumers

3.    Personal care and clinical care

4.    Services and supports for daily living

5.    Organisation’s service environment

6.    Feedback and complaints

7.    Human resources and

8.    Organisational governance

It was a great outcome for the organisation with no specific areas identified for improvements. Co.As.It. abides by its continuous improvement policy and will always endeavour to review and improve systems and processes. This allows the organisation to meet the needs of its clients, staff and government expectations.

SGA Centres Closed

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Due to the COVID-19 community transmission that occurred in July,  our Social Group Activity Centres are closed until further notice.  In summary,  all Social Group Activity centres in Brisbane and the Gold Coast are closed in line with restrictions to residential aged care facilities. The decision has been made to keep our clients safe. The decision has also been made in the best interests of our clients.

Stay Active Classes

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Co.As.It. physiotherapist, Leonie, runs an exercise group suitable for people aged 65 years and over. The program is aimed at optimizing strength, endurance, balance, and flexibility. Enhance your overall wellbeing and delay age-related stiffness. Ideal for those able to mobilize without the use of a walking aid, walker, or wheelchair.  The program runs with a full COVID Safe Plan in place. FREE classes and bookings are essential.

Brisbane North

Every Monday from 9.30 am to 10.15 am

Wooloowin

Bookings are essential – call Eden on 3624 6100

New Class in Brisbane North

Due to popular demand.

Every Monday from 10.45 am to 11.30 am

Wooloowin

Bookings are essential – call Eden on 3624 6100

Brisbane South

Every Friday from 1.30 pm to 2.15 pm

Coorparoo

Bookings are essential – call Eden on 3624 6100

Co.As.It. Staff to the Rescue

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In these strange and stressful times, the internet is full of stories about hoarding and the effect it has on some of our most vulnerable citizens. The opposite is also true, the stories of human kindness and generosity have the power to raise our spirits and remind us that we will get through this. A recent incident involving a Co.As.It. client is one such reminder.

NDIS co-ordinator, Paola Matute provides shopping services for NDIS client, Stephen. After several weeks of empty shelves where toilet paper used to be, Paola became aware that Stephen was using tissues instead. She and fellow NDIS co-ordinator, Bridget Nucifora searched five shopping centres from Chermside to Peninsular Fair but came up empty-handed. On their return to the office, they put out the call for toilet paper amongst their Co.As.It. colleagues.

The next morning, Paola was delighted to find half a dozen rolls of toilet paper on her desk, thanks to the kindness of Co.As.It. staff. She delivered them to Stephen, who was so thrilled, he offered to pay for them!

Co.As.It. has taken every measure to protect its staff and clients and be assured that we are utilising our staff in new and creative ways to ensure that we have the flexibility to meet our clients’ needs. We have withdrawn non-essential services to minimise the risk of spreading the virus and maximise our ability to support our clients who are most in need of support. Regardless of what the future holds, all essential services will continue for our most vulnerable clients.

No dystopian film ever predicted a shortage of toilet paper. We are indeed living through strange and stressful times, but as toilet paper returns to the supermarket shelves, we can take comfort that eventually, this time will pass. Stay home and stay safe and alone, together, we will defeat the virus.

For information about Co.As.It. support and assistance, call 3624 6100.

New Skills in Lockdown

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Since March, when life as we knew it was turned upside down, social media has been filled with pictures of sour dough bread and other home cooking delights. An onlooker could be forgiven for assuming that the whole world is consumed with cooking and making music videos. Not everyone, however, is focused on food. Co.As.It.’s NDIS participant, Lillian Northcott has maintained social visits from her community care worker Mara, so she is not totally isolated.

The two pass the time playing board games and chatting. When the physical distancing measures were first introduced, Lillian turn her hand to a craft activity. Lillian is now whiling away the hours painting terracotta pots, a past time that lets her creativity flow. While Lillian says the pots are a work in progress, it’s obvious that they brightens the lives of all who see them. Lillian is keen for the restrictions to be lifted, but in the meantime she’s enjoying her original creations and says she finds painting a relaxing hobby.

For more information about Co.As.It.’s NDIS services, contact Paola on 3624 6100.

Shopping Requires Resilience

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Anyone who’s visited a supermarket lately will have noticed that it’s becoming more difficult to practice physical distancing. Clearly some people haven’t got the 1.5m message and others seem to be on a mission to get up close and personal. Steering a trolley down the aisles is like driving a dodgem car with obstacles coming out of nowhere.

Fortunately, Co.As.It. client Edith Levai doesn’t have to worry about playing distancing dodgems, as she and her husband are having their groceries delivered to their door by Co.As.It. staff, under the Queensland Community Support Scheme (QCSS).

“Edith and her husband found shopping very stressful during ‘lockdown’ with an increase of panicked drivers in car parks” said Bridget Nucifora, QCSS coordinator. Co.As.It. has responded to the restrictions by being creative with the services it provides, in order to cater to individual client needs like Edith’s.

Under QCSS, support is available to people aged under 65, who have a long term disability, chronic illness, mental illness or other condition that impacts on their day to day functional capacity and ability to participate in the community. For more information about these services, call the coordinator, Bridget Nucifora on 07 3624 6100.

I Get By With a Little Help from My Friends

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One of the many advantages Co.As.It. Community Services can offer clients is access to a variety of services, including allied health and nursing. For one home care package client, Phyllis, this advantage has been truly life-changing.

Getting into bed had become so difficult for Phyllis that she was reliant on her husband physically supporting her to lift her legs. The situation clearly reduced Phyllis’ independence and created an added responsibility for her husband. Once her Care Service Coordinator became aware of the predicament, she arranged for an occupational therapist to visit Phyllis.

The solution was simple, lower the bed. The legs of the bed have now been adjusted and Phyllis is delighted with her newfound freedom. A simple referral to one of Co.As.It.’s many professionals can have a profound improvement in a client’s quality of life.

Residents are Remembered

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With weekly telephone calls replacing face-to-face visits to Italians in residential aged care facilities, Co.As.It. Community Volunteer Service Co-ordinators, Sarina Campbell and Luisa Ruggiero-Foote decided to round up a few local children to remind the 20+ Italian residents at Regis Aged Care Lutwyche, that they hadn’t been forgotten. Luisa and Sarina enlisted the help of 6-year-old Amira to deliver a load of brightly coloured posters to Debra Dorgan, Lifestyle Co-ordinator at Regis, to brighten the residents’ rooms.

CVS – In Home “Phone” Visits

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The restrictions CVS is facing of social distancing and isolation especially for the elderly are in direct contrast to the intentions of the CVS program, which are building connections and companionship (a special friend) through regular physical visits by matching a volunteer with a client/resident.

 

Home care package client Joe who lives alone enjoys his visits from his CVS visitor Perry.  Joe’s face usually lights up when Perry arrives at his home.  Over a cup of coffee that Joe proudly prepares by setting the table with a table cloth and good china, he reminisces and recounts the stories of this family immigrating from Italy in the early 1930s and becoming a pioneer cane cutting family in north Queensland for many years. Joe delights in sharing his many stories and achievements from throughout his life. He also likes to share poems that have inspired him during his life.

 

Since COVID-19, speaking over the phone with the CVS coordinator Joe said he is alone with his cup of coffee and Rosary beads and that’s how he spends his days.  Perry has now transitioned to recreating and continuing his visits through a regular phone call with Joe to assist him to stay connected and offer any social support he may need.

 

Normally new volunteers and clients are matched through a physical meet and greet visit with the CVS coordinator but due to protecting the health of our elderly community at this time, this process is not possible.  With the coordinator’s encouragement and assistance, new volunteers have been initiating the first contact with their new client/resident by phone on their own. This is a new territory for the program’s coordinators and volunteers.  In essence, they are the trailblazers that will go down in history for adapting, trialing and implement a new way of achieving the goal of how can we keep helping the vulnerable in our communities keep connected. Our goal is to support well being.

 

Below is an extract from an email received from the first new volunteer who introduced herself to her new client via telephone after receiving coaching from the client’s carer regarding her background and interests so that the volunteer had a brief knowledge of the client’s past life experiences.

 

“The phone call with Cora went really well! It was very easy to talk to each other and she’s a very funny, talkative lady. Without knowing it, you matched us perfectly as we have a lot in common and share very similar interests. She was very grateful and we both decided we will continue to talk on the phone until we can finally meet :)”