QEH September 2020
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QEH September 2020 Contents Message from the President ....................................................................................................... 2 Editors Message ......................................................................................................................... 3 EHA (QLD) INC Excellence Awards............................................................................................... 3 Articles ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Operation Bushfire Assist – 1st Preventative Medicine Company (PMC) 2nd General Health Battalion ................................................................................................................................ 4 Smallpox – The Elimination of a Virus ..................................................................................... 7 Queensland Kids Challenged to Get Ready for Disasters .......................................................... 8 EHOs Responding to COVID-19 - What is Happening? .............................................................. 8 2020 Events.............................................................................................................................. 10 Australian Food Safety Week 2020 ....................................................................................... 10 Professional Development and Networking Events 2020 ....................................................... 10 IFEH World Congress – Malaysia 2020 Postponed until 2021 ................................................. 10 45th EHA National Conference – Fairmont Resort, Leura, Blue Mountains October 2021 ........ 10 Members Update ..................................................................................................................... 11 EHA (QLD) INC Annual General Meeting 2020 ....................................................................... 11 New Members ...................................................................................................................... 11 Continuing Professional Development Scheme ..................................................................... 11 Corporate Membership ......................................................................................................... 12 Does your organisation have an employment vacancy? ........................................................ 12 Meet the Board ........................................................................................................................ 12 EHA (QLD) INC Board of Directors ............................................................................................. 13 EHA (QLD) INC Regional Group Convenors ................................................................................ 14 EHA (QLD) INC Registered Office ............................................................................................... 14 We Need your Input!! .............................................................................................................. 14 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AUSTRALIA (QUEENSLAND) INCORPORATED 1 Message from the President Dear Members My thoughts turned this morning to our Queensland Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young, who has been hit with a tirade of complaints, threats and personnel slurs relating to the Boarder closures. Please spare a moment of thought for Dr Young as she battles with these unfair and unwitting public comments. It is through her decisions and directions that we are performing our duties to keep Queenslanders safe from COVID-19 and I wish to show our support for her in writing this. As Environmental Health Professionals, we are constantly challenged with balancing regulatory frameworks to meet health and environmental outcomes with the wants of individuals and the community. It is no surprise to us to hear of people illegally breaking COVID-19 Directives and I am little swayed by the arguments being put forward to reduce restrictions, knowing all too well, how people push the boundaries of law. Many in the media, the community, and in business know little of these regulatory health challenges faced by our profession every day. Our challenge is to educate the people around us about why these directives and other laws are in place. Start with your family and friends. Do they truly understand what you do and why you do it? Do they understand the anguish that can be experienced by decision makers, such as Dr Young, in making decisions that protect the community knowing it will hurt some individuals emotionally? Do they understand that individuals do the wrong thing either out of habit or as a deliberate and defiant act? In October, we are providing you with an opportunity to network and discuss COVID-19 and other regulatory environmental health challenges. We hope to fill these meetings in order to learn and grow from each other's experiences during this pandemic. EHA (QLD) INC is also working on obtaining effective and worthwhile online training to support you all during this difficult period and into the future. EHA National has been producing documents, Facebook posts and YouTube videos promoting Environmental Health. Please sign up and take part. An exciting opportunity is being provided for World Environmental Health Day on Saturday 26 September with a Live Chat on Friday 25 September featuring EH Professionals such as Dr David Dyjak, CEO NEHA, and our beloved Bob Handby AO (LFEHA). Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity. If you promote or conduct activities for World Environmental Health Day please forward a short story (paragraph to a page) and some photos to EHA (QLD) INC and we will share them nationally and internationally. I thank you all for the work you are doing in Public Health Units, local government Councils and the Defense Force to ensure the safety of all Queenslanders during COVID-19. Every year EHA (QLD) INC provides an opportunity to promote our colleagues for the tremendous work they do. I am disappointed to see a lack of self-promotion within our profession and encourage you to jump online and nominate a colleague for their fantastic work. I know there are many Environmental Health Professionals pushing the boundaries of excellence and dedication - we need to honor and recognize their efforts. I know we are all busy and it takes time, but it is vital that effort is rewarded and celebrated. Please stay safe, healthy and above all enjoy life. God bless Wendy Gambley President ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AUSTRALIA (QUEENSLAND) INCORPORATED 2 Editors Message Greetings Fellow Member, Well my hopes in the last newsletter for COVID-19 fading into a rare flu sadly did not come true, times are not pretty, but the force of EHO’s, nursing staff, doctors and support teams are all doing great work to control this pandemic. Let us all hope QLD can avoid a second wave and enjoy a degree of normality during these testing times for humanity. Training and conferences as we knew it are all postponed for the time being. However, QLD is pushing ahead with three Professional Development and Networking Events, read more about it in the events section. If you have been doing some interesting research or have some learnings from your workplace you would like to share, consider doing a presentation at one of the professional development and networking event locations or contributing an article to QEH, this will earn you CPD points. Hoping you all stay healthy and safe. Best regards Chris Vakas QEH Editor EHA (QLD) Inc EHA (QLD) INC Excellence Awards EHA (QLD) INC aims to recognise the 2019 winners of the Environmental Health Australia Excellence Awards at an EHA (QLD) INC event in 2020. The Environmental Health Excellence Awards allow us to showcase the achievements, success and innovation in the field, not only within the profession but also to the wider community. The Environmental Health Excellence Awards aim to: • highlight outstanding contributions to, or achievements in, environmental health by an environmental health professional; and • promote increased awareness within the community of the important role played by environmental health professionals; and • enhance the public profile of Environmental Health Australia (Queensland) Incorporated. There are two categories of Excellence Awards: The Environmental Health Professional of the Year and the Early Career Environmental Health Professional of the Year. The Environmental Health Professional of the Year award celebrates excellence achieved in the years leading up to and including 2019 by an EHA (QLD) INC member. The recipient of this award could be an EHO, an EH Technical Officer or an EH Worker. The Early Career Environmental Health Professional of the Year recognises an EHO who has spent no more than five years in the industry completing extraordinary work and contributing to the profession. A third award, the President’s Award, recognises the valuable efforts and contributions of any person who has enhanced, shown passion and dedication for, or achieved environmental health outcomes. This person does not need to be an environmental health professional (EHP) but may support EHPs in enhancing the profession. The recipient of the Environmental Health Professional of the Year Award last year was John Piispanen. Join John and many others who have been recognised for their contribution and excellence to the environmental health profession. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AUSTRALIA (QUEENSLAND) INCORPORATED