Health services recognised for COVID response

Health heroes: Accepting the Keeping our community safe during COVID awards on behalf of their organisations were Betty Butler from the McIvor Medical Centre, Elizabeth Norie of the Heathcote ambulance team, Maureen Siapno and Michelle Carroll from Heathcote Primary Health and Dan Douglass of Heathcote Health. Photo: PETER WEAVING

SEVERAL outstanding local heroes were acknowledged at last Monday’s Advance Heathcote annual general meeting.

These included organisation-wide awards for Heathcote’s health and emergency services, as well as three individual awards.

Heathcote Health, Heathcote Primary Health, McIvor Medical Centre, and the Heathcote ambulance team were all given the Local Hero Award: Keeping our community safe during COVID.

Heathcote Health CEO Dan Douglass said they were incredibly proud and honoured to receive a local hero award.

“Our staff and volunteers have done a tremendous job over the course of this pandemic,” he said.

“This award is testament to their commitment to delivering safe and high-quality health services in a very challenging environment.

“I would also like to congratulate the other recipients of this award and acknowledge their outstanding contributions to the Heathcote and district community.”

The award citations focussed on several key areas.

Heathcote Health were praised for maintaining services with minimal disruption during the pandemic, while mitigating risks for patients, residents, community clients and staff.

They collaborated with the Loddon Mallee Health Network, Bendigo Health, Heathcote Primary Health, and Heathcote Community House to promote public information on pandemic safety measures and to support local vaccination clinics.

They were involved with developing and supporting a number of COVID care initiatives and received an Above the Call of Duty Award from the International Hospitals Federation for their pandemic management planning.

Heathcote Primary Health and McIvor Medical Services are the town’s two GP clinics.

Those providers played a key role in providing COVID vaccinations for members of the community and in caring for those who tested positive.

They also ensured access to local medical cover throughout the pandemic, together with referrals to other primary care services as needed.

Heathcote ambulance team received a special mention for dealing with the additional challenges thrown up by the pandemic, such not knowing if a patient was COVID positive and the difficulty of wearing PPE for extended periods in demanding environments.

They were commended for making sure community members received critical support when they needed it most.