North Stradbroke Island residents evacuated

St Vincent’s Care in south east Queensland has been busily preparing its 12 aged care facilities at risk of damage from incoming Cyclone Alfred and has also come to the aid of 11 Indigenous aged care residents evacuated from a neighbouring island community in Moreton Bay.

Chief executive officer St Vincent’s Care Lincoln Hopper said Nareeba Moopi Moopi decided to evacuate residents as the community aged care facility was potentially in the direct firing line of Cyclone Alfred – with winds of up to 150 kilometres per hour and days of torrential rain predicted for the North Stradbroke Island facility.

He said there were also concerns about caring for the residents during the category two tropical cyclone, as staff usually travelled from the mainland by ferry.

“St Vincent’s Care has been supporting Moopi Moopi for about 13 years in a range of ways as part of our social justice program and they had 10 elders plus a community client and they asked us if we could help to find somewhere to house those residents until the cyclone threat had passed,” he said.

“While our aged care facilities were full we were fortunate that we have St Vincent’s Private Hospital Brisbane at Kangaroo Point close to the city and we had a spare ward, which was vacant with 11 beds available so we were more than happy to be able to look after them.

“While it’s not home, they’ll stay with us at least until the weekend or until the threat from the cyclone and flooding is over.”

Like fellow provider Bolton Clarke, St Vincent’s Care has also activated its business continuity plan and made emergency preparations for the expected flooding.

“St Vincent’s has had plenty of practice and training in preparing for and dealing for emergencies and natural disasters with Brisbane experiencing several floods over the past decade – we’re a well-oiled machine,” said Mr Hopper.

“We plan for the power to go down, for example. We’ve got at least 10 days of supplies – clinical supplies, food, water at each of our aged care facilities. You name it, we’ve got it. We could survive on our own if we have to for 10 days but we hope it won’t be that long.

“We’ve got plans for all of our staff and we think of them and if they might need to stay to care for our residents or if they can’t get to work because of flooding or due to their own personal housing circumstances. We’ve got surge workforce capability where if staff need to attend to their personal homes we can actually grab staff from other parts of St Vincent’s even from interstate if that’s required for a short period.

“We’re staying informed and across the situation but we’re not alarmed and I don’t think most other providers in southeast Queensland would be alarmed. We’re all just getting very well prepared for any eventuality – good or bad – over the next few days.”

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