I thought it timely to provide an update on our commitment to the safety and wellbeing of our customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are strictly following the advice of the Federal and State governments, and we will continue to do so. While Western Australia has seen some positive results in terms of flattening the curve, we will always prioritise the safety and wellbeing of our customers and staff so please find below an update on what measures are in place for each of our services.

Accommodation

At this time, for Activ to comply with social distancing requirements to ensure the safety of staff and customers, Activ’s current accommodation requirements are as follows:

1. Visits should be limited to a short duration (maximum of two hours), a maximum of two visitors at a time, and two visits per customer per day (one support visit such as an occupational therapist and one visit from a family member or close friend), and conducted in line with social distancing practices.
2. Visits should occur either in the customer’s room, outdoors or in a specific designated area. It is important that the visit does not take place in a communal area.
3. If a customer is taken out of supported accommodation for an outing and spends time away from the home, the outing should be limited to a short duration (maximum of two hours). Activ encourages outings only to locations where social distancing guidelines can be followed.
4. Activ staff can only guarantee the customer will be permitted to return to our supported accommodation if they are satisfied that all hygiene, health and social distancing guidelines have been followed. This is because Activ has an obligation to ensure the safety of all customers and staff within a supported accommodation site upon the return of a customer.
5. For the same reason, Activ does not encourage visits to the family home or overnight stays by customers with their family.

Please remember the following:

• Everyone needs to comply with government safety requirements such as social distancing and hygiene practices. This includes avoiding physical greetings such as hugs, handshakes and kisses. Click here for more information.
• Activ will make relevant inquiries of returning customers to assess any risks to other customers, consistent with our visitor health questionnaire.

Employment services

Our employment sites remain open, as a direct result of many supported employees telling us they want to continue working. We have stringent health and hygiene practices in place, and these are reviewed daily to ensure they are understood by staff members and supported employees. Some of the measures we have implemented on site include social distancing markers on the floors in all areas (eg. Administration, bathrooms, canteen, workshop) and additional cleaning. We have also increased the proportion of staff on duty during meal breaks and at the start and end of each day. Staff are also monitoring the number of employees accessing certain areas at the same time and staggering work times to ensure a reduced flow of traffic.

Community supports

Currently community supports are being delivered only on a 1:1 basis to align with government requirements. These supports are in place to ensure that customers have access to essential services such as personal care, shopping, medical appointments, exercise and opportunities to connect and interact with someone during a times where many people are feeling isolated. Our staff are trained to maintain social distancing of 1.5m.

Our current vehicle policy – across Activ – is that no more than two people can travel in a vehicle at once, and the two people are spaced as far away from each other as possible. Eg. Diagonally, between the driver’s seat and the rear left-hand passenger seat. The only exception to this is if two customers live together and are both accessing community supports, they can then travel in the same vehicle.

Additional measures include extra daily cleaning, handwashing and sanitising, and ensuring car trips are kept to a minimum.

Short-term accommodation (STA)

Our STA sites are closed and will remain so for the foreseeable future. We will let you know when this service is re-opened.

We have also reorganised some of our staff to carry out welfare checks on all customers. We know it is so important to stay connect to our customers at this time so if you are an Activ customer and have not heard from us yet, you will soon and we look forward to catching up.