MSL’s operational changes in response to COVID-19: social distancing to avoid spread
At Multiple Sclerosis Limited (MSL) the health and wellbeing of our clients, staff, volunteers and supporters are front and centre of all decisions we make. To minimise any risk of coronavirus (COVId-19) spread, we have decided to make some operational changes to reduce the number of people gathering at our premises. This is called ‘social distancing’, a precautionary health concept recommended by the Department of Health.
What this means for our clients
We will, to the best of our ability, do our best to keep providing services to support our clients and the MS community to live well.
- MSL will keep providing clients services, including essential 1:1, face-to-face appointments or home visits, and have put some mechanisms in place to reduce risk of COVID-19 spread.
- MS Advisor & MS Education services will continue to be available including a large range of webinars people can access from the comfort of their own home.
- Our MS Connect team will work remotely to provide support to clients with no interruptions of service. Our MS Connect team will continue to be available at the extended times of 8am - 6pm, Monday to Friday with a friendly voice at the end of the line (1800 042 138 and msconnect@ms.org.au).
- Most of our staff will be set up to work from home 18 March until 14 April 2020
- MS Shops will remain open until we receive advice from the health authorities that they should close.
Temporary Office Closures
MSL offices will be temporary closed until 14 April 2020, excepting Lidcombe, St Leonards and Blackburn sites which will be opened for client individual appointments and minimal operational activities. These sites will not be open for walk in appointments or general public attendance.
If you have an upcoming appointment, our team will call you 24 hours before to confirm if you prefer to meet face-to-face or have a phone appointment.
Group activities postponed
We have postponed all group activities, community and fundraising events until further notice, this includes all our group activities such as yoga, dancing, art workshops, our 2020 MS Symposium and will include the temporary closure of our Gym at Lidcombe and suspension of all group activities at Blackburn and our community programs at our Deakin office.
MS Peer Support Groups will be encouraged to find alternative arrangements which we will support, such as Telelink instead of physical meetups.
We will keep you updated
We know how important it is to get timely and trusted information to help you manage your health in relation to coronavirus (COVID-19).
We are following advice from the state and federal Governments health professionals and working closely with MS organisations to ensure you have up-to-date information that is relevant to you.
There is a dedicated page on our website, which is monitored daily, to share the latest advice and information with you:
https://www.ms.org.au/coronavirus
We will continue to review our position over coming weeks and re-consider our options to ensure we can protect the health and wellbeing of our clients, staff, volunteers, our families and supporters.
MSL team