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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-04-08 Daily Xml
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Red Cross Telecross REDi Service

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:04): My question is to the Minister for Human Services, about welfare calls to vulnerable people. Can the minister please provide an update to the council about how the Marshall Liberal government is supporting vulnerable South Australians through activating the Red Cross Telecross REDi service in response to COVID-19?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:04): I thank the honourable member for her question and for her interest in this area. A number of people may be familiar with the Red Cross REDi service, which is most often activated during really hot weather, when phone calls are made by Red Cross volunteers to people who are vulnerable and isolated at home through either being aged or being limited in mobility, or through having other reasons why they are isolated at home.

Clearly, in this time when particularly a lot of older people are quite anxious about their situation—for good reason, as we all are anxious to some degree about the coronavirus epidemic—there are people who are choosing to isolate at home. For those people who particularly don't have a family or friends or neighbours who can check in on them on a regular basis, the Red Cross service has been activated to allow these people to access this service.

The service, particularly during hot weather, makes numerous calls a day to people to remind them to drink cold water and just to see whether they are okay. There have been instances that we know of where the Red Cross has had to call the ambulance, if the person isn't responding on the phone. We are quite sure that that has literally saved some people's lives.

We are very pleased that the Red Cross has been an active partner in this service to assist people who are self-isolating. We know that it's important for people's wellbeing, as well, for them to receive regular human contact, and even though we can't do it in person, it can certainly be done on the telephone. We are very grateful to the Red Cross for providing this service to South Australians who are experiencing these challenges at this time.

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