Response to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires. All names have been removed from this presentation

Transcription

1 Response to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires All names have been removed from this presentation

2 Wellbeing Services Response Due to the initial media reports it was evident that there had been significant life and property loss. Services activated on the evening of the 7/2/2009 were as follows; - On call Clinician (Psychologist). - On call Welfare Officer. - Activated member of Peer Support Co-ordination Unit (PSCU). - Activated Chaplaincy network.

3 On the 8/2/2009 at: 0700 Hrs - Attended briefing at Diamond Creek along with Clinician and Welfare Officer. - Deployed member of PSCU direct to Whittlesea Hrs - Recalled Sgt from Employee Support & Welfare Services to duty and activated the Wellbeing Services control room in Jolimont. Initial concern was to determine if any employees had lost their life, been injured or had houses burned. Fortunately, there were no deaths or injuries to our employees.

4 Immediate support provided to affected VicPol employees It was determined that 7 employees had their houses burned in the bushfires. The following immediate support was provided to each member; - Arranged access to emergency funds. - $500 transferred within 24hrs into each employees account. - A further $1,500 transferred within 48hrs. - TPA also provided $2,000 within 48hrs.

5 Operation Control Room On Monday 9/2/2009 Wellbeing Services employees were briefed and advised on Operation Control Room. The key functions of the Control Room were as follows; - All requests for services were forwarded to the Control Room. - A running log of all services requested was maintained. - Each morning thereafter at 0900hrs a briefing session was conducted. - The Peer Support Co-ordination Unit developed a list of all available PSO s for deployment on an identified needs basis.

6 Further support - A/C (Region 4) in consultation with A/C (Region 2) organised release of Supt and a Peer Support Officer to travel to Seymour to assist with on the ground delivery of welfare support to Region 4 in consultation with Wellbeing Services. - A member of Welfare and a PSO were also deployed to Seymour to work in conjunction with Supt. Subsequently, Supt rotated Insp and Insp into this role through until the 20/2/2009.

7 - Welfare member and TPA Welfare Officer deployed to Gippsland fires along with four PSO s. Officer later visited all fire impacted areas - A member of PSCU and two PSO s deployed to Whittlesea. - Two PSO s deployed to Yarra Glen. - Tuesday 10/2/2009 recalled welfare staff back from leave and sought permission to recall previous welfare staff back to assist. - From the 10/2/ /2/2009 Two members of Welfare were deployed to Shepparton, Wangaratta, Beechworth, Myrtleford, Bright, Kilmore and Wallan.

8 - Appointed Act/Insp (Region 3) to Whittlesea to fulfil welfare co-ordination role to commence 11/2/ /2/ /2/2009 AFP Chaplain was deployed to Seymour and tasked by Supt in conjunction with Senior Police Chaplain. - Maintained presence by revolving PSO s at Gippsland fires through until the 20/2/ Maintained roving welfare response crew in the Kinglake and Marysville areas through until 28/2/2009.

9 Communication Strategies A series of Wellbeing presentations on trauma and stress management along with worksite visits were conducted by Welfare/Clinical Services/ Peer Support and Chaplaincy at various locations in fire affected areas as well as at: - Crime Department - Media Unit - MCIU - Search and Rescue - Coroner s Court - Dog Squad - FSL (DVI teams) - Academy - POC - ROC s - Watsonia Army Barracks (interstate members). Welfare related communications were posted on the Bushfire Hub as well as a blue tube video relating to access of Wellbeing Services.

10 Without exception, local managers were very supportive in the systematic release of Peer Support Officers who were deployed by Wellbeing Services. Deputy Commissioner circulated a global on the 20/02/2009 to advise the organisation of the mobilisation of the Peer Support Network for the duration of the bushfire response.

11 Bushfire Deployment Lists Wellbeing Services sought to obtain comprehensive lists of deployees from POC who then referred us to ROC s. These requests resulted in variable success with slow and unreliable responses. In order to obtain this important information it was determined that the only true means was to back capture via the oracle electronic pay sheets. A systematic process was then implemented whereby lists of bushfire deployees were broken down into lists of approx employees and provided to Peer Support Officers to make direct welfare contact with each employee on their list. Over 6,000 members were deployed in some way to bushfire duties.

12 Post Bushfires As of the 10/11/2009 Employee Support & Welfare Services had 496 bushfire related files of which 8 were still active. There are now no active bushfire related files. Referrals to Clinical Services for counselling was limited, however there was ongoing monitoring of the demand. The Peer Support Network will continued to monitor employees. Employees were encouraged to seek help from internal services or via their GP if their situation is to change

13 Whenever Employee Support & Welfare were made aware of Operational Debriefs they ensured that they were represented at each of them. The Coroner s Court staff were identified as a special needs case due to the ongoing nature of their work. A specific Wellbeing presentation was conducted for them in addition to one on one wellbeing checks with each staff member. Through interaction with the Bushfire Royal Commission Office notification was made to ES&WS of all employees who provided statements or who were to give evidence so as appropriate support could be provided

14 Staffing In order for Wellbeing Services to provide their response to the bushfires the Control Room continued to operate through until Friday the 13 th of March. Additional staff were seconded from Health & Safety Services to assist with communications strategies and administrative duties. Three additional sworn members were seconded for an initial 3 month period and one unsworn member for a 6 month period to assist in the servicing of the increased number of welfare files.

15 An extract from the report provided by the AFP Chaplain: The work of the Welfare Team was of the highest quality. I cannot give higher praise to my colleagues in the job