It is with great sadness that I express my sincere condolences to all staff and volunteers who have lost family members or close friends as a result of the tragic COVID crisis in India. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see the scale of the humanitarian crisis in the country.
At Western Health, hundreds of our staff and volunteers are either from India, have a close family member who is from India or have most of their family still in the country and this is an incredibly distressing time.
Please know that you are in our thoughts and we share your grief and concern.
Our thoughts also extend to those affected by the pause on travel access from India as we know this has left many family members stranded and their separation has already been long and upsetting.
In response to this, we are setting up a number of Support and Grief counselling sessions led by professionals experienced in this kind of counselling. Webinar details of these are being finalised and will be promoted on the front of the coronavirus site and through managers.
Please feel free to invite your family to participate. Alternatively, you may like to speak privately with our Employee Assistance Program, Caraniche, who you can contact on 1800 099 444.
We are continuing to work with the Victorian Government, to see if there is anything further we can do to support the Australian national effort to assist the people of India.
Regards
Russell