Coronavirus is likely to have very significant impacts for the most vulnerable people in our community. Reduced income, stress, illness, supply shortages and isolation will be very damaging for many people if Australia can’t get Covid-19 under control as soon as possible.
The work we do is really important, including our efforts with people experiencing homelessness, domestic and family violence, family issues and financial crisis. Many of our clients don’t have access to reliable digital services or phones, so there are limitations to how much we can adapt the way we work.
YFS is working on how we continue to back vulnerable people to overcome adversity, while making sure clients, staff and the general community stay as safe as possible. In the short term here are the changes we have made:
- some group activities won’t go ahead, including playgroups and our Closing the Gap event
- if clients are not well or have recently returned from overseas we will try to find ways to work with them that don’t put others at risk
- we are encouraging staff to take action to reduce their risk through hand washing, social distancing and reducing meetings as much as possible.
Over the coming weeks and months we will monitor the situation and adapt our approach.
While we all work through these difficult times, we encourage you to support your friends, family and neighbours as much as you can. It really does take a village to get through difficult times. (And if you’re stuck for toilet paper or tissues let us know!)
Cath Bartolo
CEO