Risk awareness and incident response – Introduction to aged care video

Samuel:

Today I learnt that we need to look around us and keep an eye out in case there’s anything that could hurt the people who use our services. Sometimes things happen when we’re not expecting them. Sometimes we make mistakes and that causes problems. But if we act quickly and correctly we can reduce the risks. Let me show you what happened today.

Gary:

What’s your problem? I won’t calm down. Get out of my way.

Enid:

What’s happening Lance?

Gary:

I can go where I want.

Enid:

Judith can you bring the clients into the TV room and lock the door after you? Tamika go to the kitchen, let Sonia know what’s happening. Close the shutter and lock the door as well. You need to make sure Gary can’t get to anything that could be a weapon.

Samuel:

Hey. You can’t come in here with that stick. Take it away.

Gary:

I’ll get you.

Samuel:

You crazy one. Get out of here.

Stop. Drop that stick now.

Judith:

Okay everyone. Let’s all go into the lounge area. Yes come on. Everyone. Come on now. Come with me. You’re safe here.

Gary:

No. No. I won’t settle down.

Tamika:

We’ve got a problem out there. We need to lockdown the kitchen, keep everyone out.

Gary:

You mob didn’t come and get me for breakfast. Where’s my breakfast? Give me that food now.

Lance:

I’ll go and see what I can do to calm Gary down. At least Samuel has moved him away from the clients.

Enid:

Okay. But I’ll call the police just in case.

Samuel:

Stop. Drop that stick now.

Lance:

Hey Gary. You’re looking hot there. How about you come over here, have some water.

Here.

So what’s going on?

Gary:

You mob, you didn’t pick me up this morning. I got no breakfast.

Lance:

So if you didn’t have your breakfast does that mean you didn’t take your medicine? Sorry we missed picking you up and you didn’t get your breakfast this morning. But you know you’ve got to take them tablets. You feel better when you take your tablets.

Gary:

Yeah. But I take my tablets with my breakfast. If I don’t have food in my stomach they make me feel really sick.

Lance:

How about we get you some food now then get you to the clinic, get them to check you out. I’ll get Samuel to bring some food out here and we can sit under this tree and eat.

Gary:

Ah okay.

Lance:

Samuel can you get Gary some food and let Enid know he’s calmed down?

It’s okay now but thanks for coming. This is not his usual behaviour. I’ll get him something to eat and take him up to the clinic. He hasn’t had his medication today.

Policeman:

Okay. We’ll have a quick chat with him and then go see Enid.

Enid:

Wow. That was an eventful morning. We need to talk about what happened so we can stop it from happening again. And I need to write up the incident in a report. So how are you all feeling now?

Samuel:

I’ve got a headache but I’ll be right.

Tamika:

I was worried at the time but I’m okay now.

Enid:

If any of you have any problems from this come and see me. Sometimes you need to talk about it. Even some counselling.

Judith:

Yes. I got counselling once after an incident like this. It really helped.

Enid:

Yes. There’s no shame in asking for help.

Lance:

That’s right.

Enid:

You all did a good job of keeping clients safe. That’s important.

Lance:

Thank you Enid. And Samuel you did a good job of distracting Gary. Although it’s not a good idea to shout at someone who is angry. It can make things worse. Gary might have hit you with that stick.

Samuel:

Hmm. I didn’t think about it at the time. What should I do if that sort of thing happens again?

Lance:

It’s good to talk in a calm, quiet voice.

Enid:

Lance is right. And there’s some other things you can do. Try to get the person’s attention, not by shouting at them, but like Lance did when he gave Gary the water. This can distract them from dangerous behaviour. If it’s safe find out why they are acting the way they are. We should also say sorry if we’ve done something wrong here at aged care. That might calm the person down.

Lance:

But if you can’t calm them down Samuel or their behaviour’s getting worse then make sure you keep yourself safe. Get away from them.

Samuel:

Hmm, okay.

Tamika:

Why did you ask me to lock the kitchen up? I thought I should be helping Judith with the clients.

Enid:

It’s important that the kitchen is secure because of the sharp knives and other items that could be used as a weapon. That’s why I asked you to go there. It’s important to think about all the things that might be a risk.

Tamika:

Oh I see. Yeah. That makes sense.

Enid:

I think things worked out okay this time but we need to make sure we all know what to do if something like this happens again or there’s some other sort of emergency. We’ll run some drills over the next couple of months to make sure we’re prepared.

§(Music Playing)§

Samuel:

So you see all sorts of things can happen but if they are handled the right way the problem is not so big. And if you have problems after an incident then get some help from a professional. I talked to a counsellor after what happened with Gary. I’ve never done it before but it helped a lot. And Enid, she had us do those emergency response drills. Our emergency response plan has been updated too. How about you? Do you know what your emergency response plans are?