Faces of Baptcare #25 – Meet Evan Dalstead, Safety & Wellbeing Manager
- 21 Oct 2022
Tell me about your role at Baptcare – what does a typical week look like?
My job is to prevent harm to our employees, volunteers, contractors and visitors – the things I do can be as simple as identifying and resolving trip hazards to reviewing safety policies and systems, etc. – it’s a broad role.
There’s no such thing as a typical week!
Most of my time is spent reviewing things that have happened so that we can make things work even better in the future.
I’ve been at Baptcare almost four months now – I started on 27 June.
Have you always worked in Health and Safety area?
I grew up on a farm so I thought I’d like to be a beef farmer – I just love cows!
In my mid-teens, though, I got injured playing sport and began to think about becoming a chiropractor. I gained my qualifications and worked in that field for about 14 years.
Having kids made me reflect more on work life balance and how I could spend more time with my family. Being self-employed is very time consuming!
I sold the practice and decided to find a job. But I’d never been to a job interview before and was a bit nervous about that. I opened The Age newspaper and started looking for jobs, thinking that I’ll just have a go and practice my interview skills. I picked a job vacancy in Rehabilitation Consulting and never looked back!
I’ve been working in the Safety and Workers Compensation area now for about 15-20 years.
Your team did a lot of work for RUOK Day (9 September) – tell us more about that.
The team put up an intranet site full of useful resources for everyone. There’s links to conversation guides for anyone who’s spotted the signs that someone they care about might be struggling with life.
There’s a Talk Kit for our Managers to support them with additional resources and links to our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) partners. We sent out a text to everyone, encouraging them to have a conversation with someone if they are not feeling OK (or know of someone who might be struggling).
The important thing to remember about RUOK Day is that it’s one aspect of employee wellbeing. It’s more than one day on the calendar to us – it’s every single day that this is important. We are looking at doing more to promote the message to staff that we’ve got supports available for our people year-round.
It’s been a tough couple of years for everyone. We really want to encourage people to take advantage of our EAP support. Of course, they offer free and confidential counselling – but there’s so much more to the offering, for example:
- family counselling
- nutrition and lifestyle advice
- career planning
- money management coaching
- help for managers in difficult situations
- assistance to deal with conflict.
We are always looking to grow the offering and improve the service for our people. The message is that yes, we are here to care for others but we must care for ourselves, too.
What are your interests outside of work?
I love riding my motorbike and am a passionate Collingwood supporter who loves to go the footy whenever I can.
What is your motto in life?
Make a difference. Get a little bit better every day and make the workplace safer every day.
Community news
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Personal Alert Victoria | Enhancing safety and independence
Personal Alert Victoria (PAV) offers eligible Victorians a free personal monitoring and emergency response service. This important service is funded by the Victorian Government and helps people continue to live independently at home, safe in the knowledge that help is only a button press away.If you or someone you know is frail, elderly and isolated or who is living with a disability, you may like to consider applying for the PAV program.What does the PAV service involve?The PAV service responds to calls for assistance 24 hours per day.Clients wear a pendant around their neck or wrist which is designed with a button that, when pressed, dials the PAV hotline connecting the caller with trained staff ready to provide assistance. For example, if you fall or suddenly feel unwell, you can press the button and be connected with someone who can speak with you through the pendant.PAV hotline staff will talk with you to determine whether a call should be placed with emergency services, one of your nominated contacts (usually family members, friends or neighbours) or whether you simply require some reassurance about your situation (in the event of a non-urgent issue).How does my pendant connect me to the PAV hotline?A receiver unit sits next to your telephone and is plugged into your telephone line. When it receives an alert from your pendant (after you have pressed the button), the receiver unit automatically dials the PAV hotline.Who is eligible for the PAV service?Eligibility is determined via an assessment conducted in your own home.There are two sets of eligibility criteria to meet – Part A and Part B:Part A:You must meet all three conditions set out below –Daily monitoring – you consent to daily monitoring.Wearable pendant - you are capable of using and willing to wear the PAV pendant at all times.Living situation – you live alone OR are alone for most of the day or evening OR live with a person who would be unable to get to the phone in an emergency (or is unable to use the phone).Part B:You must meet two of these criteria –You have had at least one fall that needed medical attention in the previous six months or be at risk of falls.You suffer from a major medical or chronic condition that puts you at risk of medical emergencies or has some ongoing effect on your health or wellbeing.You are taking six or more different medications on a permanent basis that are prescribed by your doctor / medical specialist.Who conducts my eligibility assessment for PAV?Eligibility assessments for the PAV service are usually conducted by your local council, community health service, aged care assessment service, district nursing service and some publicly funded community rehabilitation services.You can either contact your local service provider directly (for example, by enquiring with your local council’s aged care program) or be referred to an assessment service by your doctor or local community health service.It’s worth noting that there may be a waiting period involved until a PAV unit becomes available for installation at your home.For more detailed information on the PAV program, please refer to the PAV program and service guidelines provided by the Victorian Department of Health.
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Faces of Baptcare | Meet Durham Smith
Personal Alert Victoria (PAV) offers eligible Victorians a free personal monitoring and emergency response service. This important service is funded by the Victorian Government and helps people continue to live independently at home, safe in the knowledge that help is only a button press away.If you or someone you know is frail, elderly and isolated or who is living with a disability, you may like to consider applying for the PAV program.What does the PAV service involve?The PAV service responds to calls for assistance 24 hours per day.Clients wear a pendant around their neck or wrist which is designed with a button that, when pressed, dials the PAV hotline connecting the caller with trained staff ready to provide assistance. For example, if you fall or suddenly feel unwell, you can press the button and be connected with someone who can speak with you through the pendant.PAV hotline staff will talk with you to determine whether a call should be placed with emergency services, one of your nominated contacts (usually family members, friends or neighbours) or whether you simply require some reassurance about your situation (in the event of a non-urgent issue).How does my pendant connect me to the PAV hotline?A receiver unit sits next to your telephone and is plugged into your telephone line. When it receives an alert from your pendant (after you have pressed the button), the receiver unit automatically dials the PAV hotline.Who is eligible for the PAV service?Eligibility is determined via an assessment conducted in your own home.There are two sets of eligibility criteria to meet – Part A and Part B:Part A:You must meet all three conditions set out below –Daily monitoring – you consent to daily monitoring.Wearable pendant - you are capable of using and willing to wear the PAV pendant at all times.Living situation – you live alone OR are alone for most of the day or evening OR live with a person who would be unable to get to the phone in an emergency (or is unable to use the phone).Part B:You must meet two of these criteria –You have had at least one fall that needed medical attention in the previous six months or be at risk of falls.You suffer from a major medical or chronic condition that puts you at risk of medical emergencies or has some ongoing effect on your health or wellbeing.You are taking six or more different medications on a permanent basis that are prescribed by your doctor / medical specialist.Who conducts my eligibility assessment for PAV?Eligibility assessments for the PAV service are usually conducted by your local council, community health service, aged care assessment service, district nursing service and some publicly funded community rehabilitation services.You can either contact your local service provider directly (for example, by enquiring with your local council’s aged care program) or be referred to an assessment service by your doctor or local community health service.It’s worth noting that there may be a waiting period involved until a PAV unit becomes available for installation at your home.For more detailed information on the PAV program, please refer to the PAV program and service guidelines provided by the Victorian Department of Health.
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Enjoying the comforts of home: Lynette and George
Lynette is 75 and her husband, George, is 70. With a little help from home care, they're able to live healthily and happily together at home.
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