Episode 29 Prof Joe brings three guests, Marie Crossland, Lisa Clinnick and Gabriel Villaflor. Together we examine the challenges of maintaining usual operations in an aged care home during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Aged care homes do not simply stop operating or caring for residents because of the pandemic. Aged care is an essential service. Marie, Lisa and Gabriel, provide their insights into the day-to-day operations, adjusting existing models of care around to maintain lifestyle and man...
Jun 25, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Episode 28 introduces our guest Professor Lyn Gilbert who is an infectious disease physician and a clinical microbiologist and has Master’s degree in Bioethics. Lyn is a senior researcher at the Marie Bashir Institute for Emerging Infections and Biosecurity and at Sydney Health Ethics at the University of Sydney. Listen to Lyn reflect and describe her account of outbreak management in care homes drawing on the experiences of Covid-19 outbreaks in two aged care facilities In Sydney NSW.
Jun 25, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Episode 27 introduces Prof Joe's ninth action point - Continuing to operate during a COVID-19 Pandemic
Jun 25, 2020•4 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Episode 26 introduces our guest Dr Rosie Forlano, an experienced psychiatrist who works at one of our largest public hospitals in Victoria. Prof Joe and Dr Rosie Forlano explore the mental health challenges faced by aged care and health workers in managing the ethical and moral dilemmas arising from Covid-19 pandemic. The explore ‘moral injury’ defined as the psychological distress that results from actions, or the lack of them, which violate someone’s moral or ethical code. Examples how this ma...
Jun 25, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Episode 25 introduces our guest Dr Simon Brown-Greaves, a psychologist, dispute negotiator and wellbeing and organisational consultant in leadership as well as the Director and CEO of FBG Group. Prof Joe and Simon explore the stress and psychological well being. Simon has personal experience with Covid-19. Simon was on a cruise ship in South America, then evacuated and quarantined in Sydney where he had an infection with Covid-19. Listen to Simon explore and explain the threats to our mental wel...
Jun 25, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Episode 24 introduces Prof Joe's eighth point - Mental Health and Well Being at Times of Crisis.
Jun 25, 2020•6 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Episode 23 introduces our guest Dr Professor John Banja who is a Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and a medical ethicist at the Center for Ethics at Emory University in Atlanta. Prof Joe and Prof John Banja have a wide-ranging discussion about why care staff and professionals need to be and feel protected as they can save others, we draw on the experience of the USA to explore the things that we expected to happen but didn’t and explore the extraordinary ways that a pandemi...
Jun 25, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Episode 22 introduces our guest Dr Shelly Jeffcott, an experienced psychologist who studies, teaches and applies the science of human behavior to improve patient care. Shelly brings a different view to the usual and is currently the Strategy Implementation and Quality Improvement Manager at Scottish Ambulance Service Glasgow, United Kingdom. Prof Joe and Shelly we examine how to protect staff and maintain trust in times of crises. We explore how to improve our teamwork, and how people who are em...
Jun 25, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Episode 21 introduces Prof Joe's seventh point - Accessing treatment in desperate times
Jun 25, 2020•4 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Episode 20 introduces our guest Dr Nicola de Savary, a consultant geriatrician at Oxford University Hospitals and geriatric medicine lead for the Clinical Ethics Advisory Group. Nicola has been instrumental in creating and implementing the local pandemic ethics framework and treatment escalation plan for patients at admission. Nicola is also supporting care homes with decision making around admission of elderly patients. Dr Nicola de Savary describes her experiences as a medical specialist provi...
May 15, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Episode 19 we discuss with Jane Newbound, a senior nurse with over 40-years of experience and who is currently co-ordinating aged care projects in the Southern Metropolitan Region Palliative Care Consortium. Jane has experience in the public and private sector as well as with the accreditation in aged care. Jane draws on her lived experiences everyday working in a catchment with over 160 facilities providing care to about more than 13,000 residents. We discuss the options confronting the managem...
May 06, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Episode 18 introduces Prof Joe’s sixth action point – Accessing Treatment in Desperate Times.
May 06, 2020•7 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Episode 17 we interview Marie Crossland the CEO of Napier Street aged care facility and Dr Lisa Clinnick the Director of Aged Care Services at Ballarat Health Services which operates a nine public sector aged care service. Marie and Lisa review the approach to screening residents and what to do when a resident has symptoms or signs that raise the possibility of an infection with Covid-19. Their experience as leaders and nurses working in aged care services means their advice is practical and rea...
Apr 27, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Episode 16 provides a discussion of Prof Joe’s fourth action point – – Detection, Surveillance, Isolation and Suspected Cases. What do we do about the resident who is showing symptoms of infection but hasn’t yet been confirmed? How do we confirm positive, or better, negative status? This episode focusses on how facilities should best manage this situation including discussion about physical separation, PPE and screening. In today’s episode: ~ How do we manage the resident who falls in the yellow...
Apr 24, 2020•16 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Episode 15 provides a discussion of Prof Joe’s fourth action point – Detection, Surveillance, Isolation and Suspected Cases. PPE is a term that we’ve all become very familiar with. But today we address the questions we may have in order to actually understand what it is and how to use it. We discuss exactly what constitutes PPE, how to wear it and what to do if we breach our PPE. In today’s episode: ~ What are some of the rights and wrongs when it comes to PPE use? ~ What do we do in case of a P...
Apr 24, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Episode 14 provides a discussion of Prof Joe’s fourth action point – – Detection, Surveillance, Isolation and Suspected Cases. Today we delve further into the course of infection of COVID-19 and how it might present. But older people are not your typical population, and aged care facilities are not your typical living environment. Join us as we discuss the need for screening and early detection in aged care facilities and how we can go about this. In today’s episode: ~ How might older people pre...
Apr 24, 2020•25 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Episode 13 introduces Prof Joe’s fourth action point – Detection, Surveillance, Isolation and Suspected Cases. This introductory episode explains the importance of screening residents and early detection of disease in our aged care facilities. But how can we practically manage this? We have proposed a colour code system to split patients up according to whether they’re completely asymptomatic (green), showing symptoms of possible infection (yellow) and positive patients (red). On today’s episode...
Apr 24, 2020•2 min•Season 1Ep. 13
An Open Letter to the Prime Minister, Health Minister and Aged Care Minister We want the same thing. But what we need to safely ease restrictions on our Aged Care Residents, is the re-establishment of trust in, and transparency from, the Federal Government. To save our loved ones from the harm of isolation, we need to be able to trust that the measures being adopted have been properly thought out, committed to, and will be vigilantly monitored, so that we can trust our family and friends in Aged...
Apr 24, 2020•12 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Episode 11: 1) Everyone has the same shared understanding of the problem ~ Knowing what to do – protocols around handwashing ~ Adopting this – so it becomes a strong part of the culture ~ Something we can do as a team is something we can be proud of. ~ The biggest enemy is invisible. The best thing we can do doesn’t seem obvious ~ Need a shared understanding - Open discussion to know what people understand and what they’re worried about ~ Use handover times and expand to second meeting at end of...
Apr 15, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Episode 10 provides a discussion of Prof Joe’s third action point – An Uncompromising Approach to Infection Control. Today we take a different stance on combatting the pandemic. Let’s look at COVID-19 from military perspective, with COVID the threat and nursing homes the combat field. We see how like any successful operation, behind any victory is successful leadership. On today’s episode: ~ How every single person in the aged care community, from healthcare workers to residents and their famili...
Apr 11, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Episode 9 provides a discussion of Prof Joe’s third action point – An Uncompromising Approach to Infection Control. Associate Professor Noleen Bennet (Infection Control Consultant) joins Prof Joe in this episode and brings us back to basics with the principles of infection control. How is COVID-19 transmitted? What are the principles of infection control and how can we practice them? Should I be wearing a mask or gloves when visiting a relative? These are a few of the questions that Noleen addre...
Apr 08, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Episode 8 introduces Prof Joe’s third action point – An Uncompromising Approach to Infection Control. This episode explains the importance of paying close and meticulous attention to the fundamentals of infection control. The most important practice is one we have known and often overlooked, that is hand washing. We explore how the seemingly simple strategies done well is our best protection to keep the virus out and save lives.
Apr 08, 2020•3 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Episode 7 is a bonus episode providing further discussion on Prof Joe’s second action point – Make the lockdown humane. Prof Joe welcomes Ian Yates (CEO of Councils of the Ageing – COTA) to the podcast today, who offers valuable insight into the current situation in aged care. Both share their initial concern surrounding the harsh lockdown in aged care facilities, but why are they both now advocating for a total lockdown? Join us as Ian Yates shares the accounts and experiences of residents and ...
Apr 02, 2020•16 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Episode 6 provides a discussion of Prof Joe’s second action point – Make the lockdown humane. Following the recent Royal Commission, trust in the aged care sector is lower than ever. So introduction of a complete lockdown in aged care facilities may understandably cause a lot of distress for families of residents unable to see their loved ones. However, innovation within aged care facilities is helping create trust with families and create connectedness during the pandemic. On today’s episode: ~...
Apr 02, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Episode 5 introduces Prof Joe’s second action point – Make the lockdown humane. This introductory episode goes further into exploring what led to the shocking scenes coming out of Spain’s aged care facilities, and how in Australia our aged care system may be at risk of similar events. With the recent Royal Commission highlighting serious deficiencies in our aged care sector, listen as we introduce some measures that we can put in place to ensure a humane lockdown and keep our residents safe. On ...
Apr 02, 2020•6 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Episode 4 provides a discussion of Prof Joe’s first action point – Lockdown hard, Lockdown now. As a society we’re being told stay home and not have visitors. Yet nursing homes are still allowed visitors despite residents being in their home. Join Prof Joe and Marie Crossland (CEO Napier Street Aged Care Services) for a discussion on why they advocate for harder lockdown restrictions in aged care facilities. They describe what this may look like in nursing homes and address the difficult scenari...
Mar 31, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Episode 3 introduces Prof Joe’s first action point – Lockdown hard, Lockdown now. This introductory episode explains the current lockdown restrictions for nursing homes, residents and their families. But is this enough? Many nursing homes are going above and beyond the current restrictions believing that prevention is our best protection to keep the virus out and save lives. On today’s episode: ~ What are the current lockdown restrictions to aged care facilities? ~ Why are some aged care facilit...
Mar 31, 2020•10 min•Season 1Ep. 3
We now know that Covid-19 is not ‘just another flu’ and disproportionately affects our older population. In this episode we address the vulnerability of aged care residents, what factors in our aged care system leave them more at risk, and what can be done to help. On today’s episode: ~ Why are aged care residents particularly at risk? ~ Nursing homes are designed to be a home rather than hospital - how can they provide hospital level care during this pandemic? ~ What is needed to protect our re...
Mar 31, 2020•15 min•Season 1Ep. 2
The Prof Joe COVID-19 Aged Care Podcast brings you current information of the COVID-19 pandemic in aged care. We break down the latest news and information and put it into the context of working, visiting and living in a nursing home. Throughout the episodes our team addresses the 9 actions we believe must be undertaken in aged care in order to save lives, and the practicalities of putting those into place. Connect with us @Profjoeonline. If you’re an aged care professional connect with us at th...
Mar 31, 2020•3 min•Season 1Ep. 1
