Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

People have experienced different levels of isolation during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Many people will be enthusiastic about socialising again, but others may be nervous or anxious about resuming activities that they once took for granted, such as returning to shops or busy spaces. Having to process and remember new rules as restrictions ease may be an additional concern for people who are already feeling overwhelmed. Consider:

• Work with befriending services and community organisations to mobilise volunteer 'buddies' to help those who are feeling anxious about coming out of isolation. For example, buddies can:
  • Accompany people on their initial outings, perhaps starting with a walk down the street and working up to a trip to shop for food
  • Support those who are socially isolated for reasons other than 'vulnerability', e.g. they have recently moved into an area and have not established social networks
• Communicate directly with community members to help them understand their local restrictions as lockdown is relaxed, and the support that is available, e.g. through traditional media outlets, social media, or leaflets directly to people's homes
• Educating on how people can reduce their stress through self-care, e.g. breathing exercises, or signpost to support from mental health services (see TMB Issue 7)

Primary health care workers providing care in remote areas have faced challenges during COVID-19 including inaccessibility to locales, poor hospital infrastructure and facilities, and meeting the needs of vulnerable communities. In Australia, remote health services also face challenges in maintaining adequate appointment and retention of healthcare workers. Consider how to protect remote healthcare staff and remote communities, for example:

• Be mindful of competition between remote and metropolitan areas for staff and resources during COVID-19
• Consider the reliance of remote health services' on short-term or fly-in, fly-out/drive-in, drive-out staff, and the increased risk of transmission into remote areas
• Ensure there are adequate point-of-care COVID-19 testing sites in remote communities to avoid unnecessary travel to centralised locations and to reduce delays in test results
• Consider distribution and storage challenges in maintaining adequate stocks of PPE. Remote health service may also benefit from stocks of hygiene products to distribute to community households through remote health services
• Ensure remote health services are meeting regularly with other essential services e.g. police, schools, and hospitals locally and regionally, to develop local plans for concurrent emergencies in isolated areas
• Ensure the availability of an adequate, appropriately trained local workforce, especially for outbreaks in healthcare buildings
• Consider heightened costs for accommodation for remote healthcare workers due to staffing constraints or COVID-related isolation
• Consider staff burnout due to impact of insufficient staff, frequent orientation of new staff, concerns about the clinical and cultural competency of incoming short-term staff and continuity of care

Such issues include loneliness and anxiety about returning to the outside world and recovering from the physical impacts of the disease. Consider:

• Maintain coordinating arrangements with the charity and non-profit sector to support those suffering with physical and mental health impacts of COVID-19
• Share information about vulnerable populations with non-profit and the charity sector where they have permission so that they are able to offer appropriate support
• Retain communication channels such as hotlines to facilitate community engagement
• The needs of those who have survived COVID-19, thinking of the mental health impacts such as fear of going outside, and physical impacts such as organ scarring, impaired vision and mobility, which may require ongoing support

This lesson was contributed by a representative of the Social Welfare Department in Portugal and UNDRR City Resilience Stories Australia during project data collection.