Its that time again... Christmas and New Year are upon us. Wow what a year. We're glad to see it gone!
We know many of our customers were affected by bushfire from December 2019. SchemeWise was also affected by ACT fires in early 2020 with our location a bushfire affected postcode. In that period we lost all broadband connectivity... which for a cloud-based business certainly sent the pigeons flying. We were lucky that our management plans ensured our customer information and systems were safe and after our own evacuation our emergency planning certainly paid off such that we were back to work quickly... albeit a bit behind the eight ball for a while. Our resilience was tested... we did not break but we certainly bent out of shape a little. Thankfully the gym is now open again.. and a new figure is emergent.
Even more importantly, we remained unaffected in supporting our customers over the Dec/January period - helping several activate emergency and evacuation plans of their own... and in the ACT liaising with government officials for evacuation assistance.
It took some 5 months for a few customers, to get back home with some of their essential services interrupted and needing replanning too.
Unfortunately over that period, we all ran headlong into the newest global pandemic of the century - COVID-19. Anyone else sick of hearing that word!? Its everywhere...... and never existed until around March 2020. Thankfully Australia, despite a few scares, and awful lock down of various lengths in various states/territories, has come through very much better off than mot other countries - there is truly one benefit in being an island!. This is a point of reflection on the values Australians hold dear, ensuring each other are safe and taking concerted community actions for same too. It is certainly telling to be writing this article when at the same time the daily death toll in the US is 3000+ individuals. This is an unthinkable and devastating statistic.
And then of course the NDIS opened coordination to every single participant... all of a sudden and unexpectedly.... or at least the 70% that were NOT programmed to receive coordination because, you know, better us then them to respond. Too many enquiries and calls... what IS a public servant to do? Coffee anyone? When's the next meeting scheduled for the utopia express presentation anyway? We'll need a new plan!
With great sadness, much of SchemeWise's work increased during the close down period with some customers having increased mental health concerns emerging due to their isolation's and restrictions from signficant others. It was truly a terrible time March to July 2020. Notwithstanding that, scottyfrommarketting and his cohort of rough and tumble seemed to think making ongoing running changes to the NDIS (at one point every 5 days) and weekly threatening providers via email would be the best practice model they could find and adopt. Surely our public officials have managed to adopt some nuance in their responses now... improve their practice... and wait, what am I saying.... they don't even have a climate policy.
As most people are finding out the other side of the pandemic response period, the NDIS is turning out to be a raving bunch of <redacted>. The dreaded ongoing changes to rules and pricing has continued unabated... and CORE fund are being cut left, right and centre. SIL processes disappeared in July and largely are not re-emergent still. And some planners - hi B hope your feeling better soon - seem to have lost their moral and values compasses.
What a pity that public office is no longer a place of principle or statesmanship when we sorely need it to be. Still a policy vacuum may not a vacuum be. According to the latest research on interstellar space, one could expect to encounter a few protons, electrons and neutrons to be present in a roughly 1km square radius... as well as a few billion quarks, photons and other little visibilities which are near mass-less entities. See there must be something in this public service thingamajig still. Somewhere? Possibly small and insubstantial... maybe hiding in a bottom drawer and kept well out of sight.... we can only hope?! It may actually be the only hope.....
Anyway, please everyone... continue to be safe, practice your precautions every day, maintain social distancing, limit your movements and practice universal precautions daily and at all times - including wearing a mask if you have additional risk factors.
Also remember that washing hands are best. Soap and detergents completely destroy coronavirus. Hand sanitiser is a reduction agent (meaning it will significantly reduce virus particles you come into contact with but NOT get rid of all of them) and is also only effective if the per cent of ethyl alcohol is 65% or higher. If you are using sanitiser which does not state a number... then its probably ineffective. Please invest in quality sanitiser to keep yourself and significant others safe. Even better.... invest in cheap liquid soap dispensers and refills.
3-ply face masks are the minimum needed also. And remember if you have touched your mask or moved it, once on, that it is no longer considered safe to keep using. You'll need to don a new one quick smart.
Remember to also keep your support workers and therapists safe. You can purchase face masks and other PPE through your NDIS plans. If you are plan- or self-managed You can even buy stocks yourself and then be reimbursed through your plan.
Now here's the important stuff.....
SchemeWise is CLOSING general operations at 5PM on 18 December 2020.
We will RECOMMENCE SERVICES from 9AM on 11 January 2021.
We are doing this as we want to ensure our people have a well earned rest too... with ALL having worked very significant hours this year keeping our customers healthy and safe. Most have had between 3-5 days leave since December last year.
Over this close down period the SchemeWise 1300 automated service will continue to operate 24/7 so that customers with essential needs, emergency and changed circumstances can alert SchemeWise when they need help. Genuine cases will be responded as soon a possible. All non-urgent or general matters will be programmed for action/response post -11 January 2021. Just remember... genuine emergencies are a 000 phone call. SchemeWise is NOT an emergency responder and you should NOT call our number if you are in an emergency situation. We will respond to hospitalisations (to help with your services delivery) or loss of essential services (so you can stay safe in your home) only.
SchemeWise and its people wish you and yours all the best for the festive season. We hope you have an opportunity to contact and spend time with family and friends. We wish you all a very happy New Year 2021 and offer hopeful thoughts that next year looks better and brighter for all.
Stay well. Be Safe. Look after each other.
We look forward to supporting you in 2021.
