Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with Katherine Deputy Mayor Kym Henderson about how the Katherine health system will cope with the outbreak

Transcript

Katie spoke with Katherine Deputy Mayor Kym Henderson about how the Katherine health system will cope with the outbreak · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining us on the line right now is Kim Henderson,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: who is the deputy mayor in Catherine.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Kim, Good morning Katie. How are you.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, really well, Kim. It sounds as though it is
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: incredibly busy this morning in Catherine with so many residents
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: turning out to get tested.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I've seen the lines myself, and I am
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: so proud of the Catherine community getting out there and
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: getting tested. I know the wait is long and it
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: can be so frustrating, but it is pivotal to know
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: where this virus is in the community.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you spot on. And we just caught up with
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Joe Hersey who had said, you know that there's a
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: lot of people waiting to get tested, that the feeling
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: in the community at the moment is quite unsettled, and
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: you know a lot of people quite worried about just
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: what's going to happen with this cluster.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, there is a big concern, you know, understanding
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: where the case has been, where they've interacted with the community,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: and we're still trying to find that information and the
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: community are a little bit anxious and waiting to know
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: have they been to an exposure site? Have I you know,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: am I a close contact. So I'm just very yeah,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: very happy that the community is doing the right thing
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: and staying home, and as soon as I have the
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: mildest the symptoms, they are going out to get tested.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Now, Kim, one of those exposure sites that's listed on
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: several different occasions on the coronavirus website is the Catherine Hospital.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: How big a worry is that for you?
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: I's always a concern when a public facility as public
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: as the Catherine Hospital is listed as an exposure site.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: But I have all faith in the staff at the
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Captain Hospital. I know they have their processes in order
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: and they would have had that place deep cleaned within
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: an inch of its life. And I know that the
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: community are safe to be access to the hospital if
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: you require it.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Now, Yeah, are there warries given the fact that that
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: they're you know, they are listed as an exposure site
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: and presumably some of the staff have been close contacts.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Is there any concern from your perspective that you know,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: they may be staff down or that there may not
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: be as much capacity or redundancy is what they'd like.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know it's a concern across the community, not
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: just at the hospital. With low staffing. We already had
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: that issue with the lockdowns of interstate and international. You know,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: we don't have those backpackers here that we would normally have,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: so there is a lot of staff shortages across the community,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: let alone without a lockdown as well. So we're definitely
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: feeling the pinch. But you know, the staff that have
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: gone and gotten tested and had their negative tests and
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: just gotten back to work to support the community, it's
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: just incredible to see.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and is there that contingency I suppose in place
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: within the hospital or has there been any discussion about
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: if required, if there are further cases, if there will
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: be capacity to get staff to Catherine from Darwin, or
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: any of those kind of discussions at this point.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely those those discussions that happening at all levels
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: of government at the moment. So we've been talking with
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Darwin about opening a second testing facility in Kathrine East,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: but we all knew that we didn't have enough staff
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: here to staff that. So we do have to reach
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: out to our counterparts in Darwen and say, you know,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: we need this support for the community to get over
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: this outbreak, and to do that, we do need to
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: be prepped people from other towns such as Darwin. So yeah,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: those conversations are definitely happening.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: And in terms of you know that additional testing capacity,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: is any of that moving forward. I know that Joe
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Hersey had said that she was understanding that there was
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: going to be twelve people coming from Darwin to help
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: out with some testing.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I am not aware of how many staff are coming,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: but I did get the notice this morning that the
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: third testing site should be opening as soon as they can,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: and that will be out at Catherine East for those
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: that can't travel into town because both of the other
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: testing sites are in the CBD at the hospital and
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: in the center of town, so it's to kind of
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: support those that are further out of town.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Well, Kim, it does sound like it is all happening
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: in Catherine at the moment. Well done to everybody that's
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: turned out to get tested, and you know we're all
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: thinking of you here in Darwin and hoping that things
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: stay under control.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: No worries. Thank you so much for your time.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Thank you Keith