Posted on

How to take care of your voice when wearing PPE

Wearing PPE for long periods of time may contribute to a strained voice when talking through a mask and visor. You need your voice now more than ever, and these steps can help prevent or alleviate strain in your voice:

Six steps for voice care when using face masks

 

1)    Drink plenty fluids

Your voice will work better and last longer if your vocal cords are lubricated. Drink roughly 2 litres (8 glasses or 4 pints) of water a day. Try steam inhalation.

2)    Breath support

Instead of forcing your voice from your neck to make it louder, take a deep, slow breath before speaking and use your stomach muscles to support your voice. Think of your voice coming forward and through the mask. Open your mouth more than usual when speaking.

3)    Pace yourself

Rest your voice when you can. Reduce background noise when talking if possible. Slow down and keep your sentences shorter than usual. Use pictures, written information and gestures to help get your message across to patients rather than just relying on your voice.

4)    Relax

Take 3 slow breaths – on your first breath out drop your shoulders down, on the next breath out unclench and relax your jaw, on the last breath out relax the back of your tongue to the bottom of your mouth.

5)    Avoid irritants

Limit your general intake of caffeine, alcohol, fizzy drinks and high fat, spicy or acidic food if you are running into voice problems. Cut down or ideally don’t smoke.

6)    Do vocal warm-ups and stretches

Voice exercises before and after your shifts will stretch your vocal cords and help to prevent vocal injury by increasing blood flow to the larynx. Gently hum on a comfortable pitch then hum a scale or tune.

If you’d like more information, you can email: [email protected]

Specialist Speech and Language Therapist, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

Posted on

Guidance on drafting a media statement for Covid-19 confirmed cases/deaths

Media interest continues to increase for a number of providers during Covid-19, with journalists contacting members for their figures on confirmed Covid-19 cases or Covid-19 deaths. Providers may choose to provide a simple media statement to respond to these media enquiries. Whilst choosing not to engage with the media seems like the easiest option, a ‘no comment’ response could be more damaging when used for a negative story. It is likely that the story will still run so a simple statement can provide an opportunity to clarify a situation.

In recognition of this, Scottish Care has collated some information to help members draft media statements. It is important to consider the following information when drafting a media statement on Covid-19 confirmed cases/deaths:

1. Draft a general statement instead of a specific response to any questions proposed by the media

2. Confirm current situation

  • Are there confirmed Covid-19 cases or deaths?
  • You can include figures of cases/deaths if you wish to disclose this information

Example: It is with regret to note that at [name of care home], we do have a number of our residents and staff diagnosed with Covid-19. Sadly, this has included X numbers of deaths.

3. Express concern and offer sympathies for those affected by Covid-19

Example: We offer our deepest condolences for the residents, family and friends and staff who have been affected by this.

4. Highlight the preventative measures that were put in place

  • You could mention the robust supply of PPE/how PPE was used
  • You could mention positive work by the staff
  • You could mention that appropriate guidance was followed
  • Include any measures that saw the delay of transmission of the virus

Example: The staff at [name of care home] have been doing their utmost to provide compassionate care and support to our residents during these challenging times. We have been fortunate to have a robust supply of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which was used by staff in accordance to guidance. This effectively saw the delay in the transmission of the virus into our home.

5. Highlight any other measures that are put in place to address Covid-19 outbreak

  • Are positive staff self-isolating?
  • Are positive residents isolated?
  • Are staff working in designated areas?

Example: To help reduce the virus spreading in the home, we have put in the following measures in place [list measures].

6. Emphasise ongoing commitment to the health, safety and wellbeing of residents and staff.

Example: The health and safety of our staff and residents are our top priority, and as the Covid-19 crisis continues, we are committed to continually do everything we can to respond quickly and effectively, whilst following the latest advice from the government.

We have also created a Media Toolkit earlier this month to provide members with some tips and advice on how to handle media enquiries. You can access this toolkit here: https://scottishcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Media-Toolkit.pdf

If you require additional support with media requests, please contact [email protected].

Posted on

Join us and light a #candleforcare tonight

Scottish Care encourages you to join us in the #candleforcare movement.

Every Tuesday, we will light a candle at 7pm in remembrance of all those who have lost their lives to Covid-19 in our care homes, hospitals and communities.

We will also be doing this to recognise all the dedicated key workers, especially those in the social care sector. This is an opportunity to thank them for working tirelessly to provide compassion care during these challenging times.

The need to provide recognition to this workforce is important as highlighted in the latest blog by our CEO, Dr Donald Macaskill- Coronavirus exhaustion – upholding the mental health of the care sector which details the physical and mental exhaustion experienced by care workers, managers and providers across Scotland.  

Please join us in lighting a #candleforcare tonight.

 

Posted on

HRM Homecare Heroes

Thank you to HRM Homecare Services for sharing this interview with one of their care heroes – Lorraine. In this short clip, Lorraine talks about her experience being a care worker and why she loves her job.

Posted on

Mental Health Week – 18 -24 May

This week is Mental Health week and its important we recognise that fact that the times we are living in is having significant impact on people of all ages.

The theme this year is kindness .

Below are some links that you may find helpful resource to support you , friends , work colleagues and family to remain positive during these challenging times.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/52557800

https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/get-involved/get-your-workplace-involved/resources/mental-health-calendar

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week

https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2020-05-18/mental-health-awareness-week-looking-after-you/

Posted on

Care staff welcome Aldi vouchers from Blackwood 

Specialist housing and care provider Blackwood has purchased the shopping vouchers as a thank you to its social care staff working at the front-line of the Coronavirus crisis.

Each of Blackwood’s 284 care staff received a £90 Aldi voucher to help with their essential shopping, as a token of the appreciation of their dedication to their job through the pandemic.

The donation from Blackwood is part of its continuing #ImInAwe campaign, which is dedicated to shining a light on the important front-line role care employees are playing, and to encourage more people to look at different ways to show their gratitude.

Blackwood operates across 29 local authorities in Scotland, providing housing and care support to people with a wide range of care needs.

Blackwood Chief Executive Fanchea Kelly said: “We’re so immensely proud of all of our staff who have continued to provide excellent care to all of our customers during a difficult time.”

“We have so many incredible stories of how our staff have helped customers manage during this national lockdown and have worked hard to keep spirits up along the way, use technology to keep families in touch and come up with some innovative ways to fill days with fun where possible.”

“The vouchers are a token of our appreciation for our staff. They are a way of recognising the hard work our carers do, and saying thank you to everyone for continuing to inspire us and keep our staff and customers safe.”

“One of the reasons Aldi was chosen was its range of supermarkets across the country and their dedicated opening hours for care staff – both of which will hugely benefit our team.”

Natasha Murray, Interim Care Services Manager at Blackwood, said: “The staff truly deserve the vouchers as they have gone above and beyond to support all our customers.”

“Care staff have worked extremely hard through the pandemic and are putting our customers first, before anything else. We’re proud of each and every one of them.”

Fritz Walleczek, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility at Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “Care workers remain an essential support for communities to ensure vulnerable people are looked after at this challenging time, and we’re delighted to play a part in this initiative from Blackwood to recognise the important contribution their staff make in the field.”

It is estimated that up to 150,000 staff work in the social care sector across Scotland, providing vital care to people in care homes and retirement developments as well as care-at-home services.

Blackwood believes it is essential to publicly recognise the important work of its care staff, showing support and keeping morale high at a difficult time.

Fanchea added: “Often, the work of carers can go unnoticed. We would love it if more people got involved in supporting the #ImInAwe campaign, by sharing and resharing our efforts to show our carers how much they are valued and how important their work is.”

“If you or your business would like to get involved and help, we’d love to hear from you to continue to show a collective sense of support across the country.”

Blackwood aims to help people live their life to the full, by providing services which support individuals to live independently. It specialises in technology and design innovation to support the role of its housing and care staff across Scotland.

For more information, please visit: https://www.blackwoodgroup.org.uk

 

Posted on

Help for Heroes – mental health & wellbeing resources

 

Forces charity – Help for Heroes in Scotland which supports veterans, service personnel and their loved ones have developed some resources during Covid-19.  These resources include a Field Guide to Self-Care to staff and volunteers which Scottish Care members  may find useful at such a stressful and traumatic time for care workers.

You can access this guide here:

The guide was co-produced by, and for, veterans who have experienced trauma and is now being made available to care workers, NHS staff  – and anyone else who may be feeling anxious and stressed by the current crisis.

There are further resources on their website on dealing with anxiety, sleep disruption and other issues which may also be useful:

https://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/get-support/stronger-together/

 

Posted on

National Wellbeing Hub Update – 21 May

Notification of Changes

It is important that information on the Hub is kept up to date. Therefore, going forward, if you anticipate making any changes to the various services or resources you provide that are referenced on the Hub please inform PRoMIS via the email: [email protected] . Content will be routinely reviewed every two weeks – around the 1st and 15th of the month; if an  important or significant change needs to be made outside this cycle, please notify PRoMIS by email.   For verification purposes, changes should ideally be submitted by you as the organisation’s Wellbeing Lead or by your nominee whose designation and contact details should be clearly indicated in the email.

Technical and ‘snagging’ issues

All the technical / snagging issues reported to us have now been addressed / resolved. Some technical issues are beyond our control due to the different internet platforms / browsers being used across organisations. Some browsers such as Internet Explorer are no longer supported by Microsoft, so some people may have difficulty with access. We are advised that access is possible via the Chrome and Edge browsers.  Please contact ask your organisation’s Head of IT / Digital Services to ensure that access to the PRoMIS National Wellbeing Hub www.promis.scot is unblocked. When promoting the site to your staff please highlight that it is designed to be accessible via any device – desktop, tablet and mobile.

Proactive engagement of the Hub and resources

A number of key resources have been made available to the Wellbeing Hub by commercial companies at no cost for the benefit of health and social care staff and carers.  Amongst these are two Apps and on-line programmes  – Sleepio (an evidence based sleep improvement programme) and Daylight that addresses anxiety as ways of improving general wellbeing. You can view them on the Hub.

We are keen to proactively raise awareness of Sleepio and Daylight amongst health and social care staff (and carers) in the context of the experience of NHS England: an email sent to all staff with information about all of the apps available to them led to a significant uptake of these resources. We would be keen to hear the views of Wellbeing Champions in implementing this proactive approach (i.e. an email to staff) across the health and social care organisations in Scotland.       

Background information on the Hub

  1. Brand Logo

The PRoMIS logo, attached, is a double arc of two concentric semi-circles, that creates an iconic, simplified rainbow graphic that references the rainbow paintings and drawings hung in windows to encourage and support essential workers during the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown.

The PRoMIS Visual Identity is made up of the logotype (the letters), and the logo (the graphic element). Together these elements form the primary identity for the National Wellbeing Hub.

  1. The Hub’s central theme

The central theme of the Hub is You look after us so we’ll look after you and the wide-ranging content centres around both on this and on Psychological First Aid. The content is aimed at encouraging people in health and social care services, wherever they work, and unpaid carers, to look after themselves and seek help seek when they need it. It contains information on (evidence-based) resources to enable them self-care and the most comprehensive information on services available (e.g. helplines, peer support) at national, regional and local levels.

Monitoring and continuous improvement

The Hub has built-in analytics’ that allow us to gather anonymous information on the roles of people accessing the website and their sector / workplace, and information on users, new and returning users, page views, session time etc.

The Hub also has a built-in feedback mechanism (comments) to capture the views of users accessing the site. This is to ensure the site is updated and its content is relevant to the needs of people working in various roles within health and social care as the pandemic progresses.

PRM_Wellbeing-Hub-Poster_CMYK_SR_V02_ƒ