Maintaining organisational health during COVID-19

13 August 2020 | Story Nadia Krige. Photo Adobe Stock. Read time 7 min.
Organisational Health and Wellness keeps tabs on the general health of UCT’s staff members.
Organisational Health and Wellness keeps tabs on the general health of UCT’s staff members.

With a deadly virus wreaking global havoc, enforced home-bound isolation and a general sense of unease, the past few months have had a crippling effect on the well-being of many. At the University of Cape Town (UCT), Staff Organisational Health and Wellness – a division of Human Resources – is at the ready to support both individual staff members and teams in times of crisis.

Since South Africa’s battle against COVID-19 started in March this year and lockdown measures were enforced, the uncertainty and utter strangeness of the situation has taken its toll on the country’s workforce. Working from home has posed a challenge for many, while others have simply been unable to continue their jobs during this time. Among UCT’s academic and professional, administrative support and service (PASS) staff, high levels of stress and burnout have been reported.

It is precisely for times like these, where staff members could benefit from additional support, that Organisational Health and Wellness was established. In a recent Senior Staff Management Advisory Group (SSMag) meeting, Margie Tainton, who heads up staff health and wellness at UCT, and Dr Tony Davidson, an external consultant in organisational health, shared a few insights about the general well-being of UCT’s staff and the uptake of health support services during this time.

Health dashboard

Working closely with service providers like Discovery Health, which provides medical aid cover to 53% of UCT staff members; Kaelo Health, which provides primary health cover to over 1 200 staff; Independent Counselling and Advisory Services (ICAS); the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG); and UCT’s occupational health services, the Organisational Health and Wellness Office is able to keep tabs on the general health of staff members.

 

“What we’ve developed over the years is a health indicator dashboard.”

“We have an organisational health consultative forum where we meet with healthcare providers on a quarterly basis,” said Tainton. “What we’ve developed over the years is a health indicator dashboard.”

As Davidson explains, the dashboard is a means of documenting organisational health activities at UCT and their outcomes. It provides information on everything from the adoption rate of wellness programmes like Discovery Vitality to the numbers of staff members who have been hospitalised, incapacitated or passed away during a specific quarter.

It also offers insight into the screening, prevalence and treatment of lifestyle conditions, such as high blood pressure, cholesterol and HIV, as well as psychosocial ailments. Currently, there is not enough data available from service providers about COVID-19 to add to the dashboard, but Davidson says this will be added to the dashboard in due course.

Psychosocial support during a pandemic

Of course, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures, the wellness drives and screening programmes that would normally have been available to staff members on campus have come to a halt. Psychosocial support, however, is still available from both ICAS and SADAG, albeit telephonic and online instead of the usual face-to-face sessions.

 

“In Q2 – the lockdown – the actual engagement with ICAS has dropped quite dramatically. That is of concern.”

Unfortunately, the uptake of these services among staff members has been somewhat disappointing.

“In Q2 – the lockdown – the actual engagement with ICAS has dropped quite dramatically. That is of concern,” said Davidson.

During the first quarter ICAS reported an engagement rate of 17,4% with UCT staff members. This took the form of 93 telephone calls, 55 face-to-face sessions and 99 group participants. The engagement rate dropped to 7,5% during the second quarter, consisting of 101 telephonic contacts, 19 face-to-face sessions, six online sessions and five group participants.

“A lot of the work that was done in the first quarter was about group work,” explained Davidson. “This involved going into particular areas where there had been a death in service or where there was a problem with team dynamics. Obviously, that had to drop off now.”

 

“During the second quarter, the symptom complexes ICAS dealt with were largely stress-related – specifically individuals battling to maintaining a work–life balance”

During the second quarter, the symptom complexes ICAS dealt with were largely stress-related – specifically individuals battling to maintaining a work–life balance while working from home and interpersonal issues with partners or family members.

ICAS has been able to assist UCT staff members through various well-developed programmes focusing specifically on life in lockdown and reintegration into the workplace post-lockdown.

Similar to ICAS, SADAG also reported a drop in engagements, from 414 in the first quarter to 347 in the second quarter.

Depression and anxiety were the top two issues that SADAG dealt with during this time. These were related to dealing with COVID-19, feelings of isolation and a sense of being “trapped” at home. Unfortunately, there were also a number of calls related to gender-based violence, which Davidson said is “of grave concern.”

 

“Depression and anxiety were the top two issues that SADAG dealt with during this time. These were related to dealing with COVID-19.”

As with ICAS, SADAG has various programmes in place to support staff members. These include dealing with substance abuse during COVID-19, the psychological impact of COVID-19 and mental health during lockdown.

Return to UCT in numbers

Organisational Health and Wellness has also been assisting the COVID-19 Coordinating Committee (CCC) with the Return to UCT programme. This has involved tracking and tracing staff members who have contracted the virus and offering support to bereaved families of staff members who have passed away.

In preparation for the second semester, which started on 2 August 2020, UCT’s Occupational Health Clinic sent out a COVID-19 questionnaire to those staff members and postgraduates who were invited to return to campus. It was answered by 1 440 people – 991 staff and 449 postgraduates.

The questionnaire is being used to assess whether it is safe for these staff members or postgraduates to return to campus.

Staff members who have any queries about returning to campus safely or need advice on counselling for psychosocial support can contact Blanche Claasen-Hoskins from Staff Organisational Health and Wellness.

Contact detail for ICAS and SADAG are available on the Human Resources website.


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UCT’s response to COVID-19

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that caused President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare a national disaster in South Africa on 15 March 2020 and to implement a national lockdown from 26 March 2020. UCT is taking the threat of infection in our university community extremely seriously, and this page will be updated with the latest COVID-19 information. Please note that the information on this page is subject to change depending on current lockdown regulations.

Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, has in June 2022 repealed some of South Africa’s remaining COVID-19 regulations: namely, sections 16A, 16B and 16C of the Regulations Relating to the Surveillance and the Control of Notifiable Medical Conditions under the National Health Act. We are now no longer required to wear masks or limit gatherings. Venue restrictions and checks for travellers coming into South Africa have now also been removed.

In July 2022, the University of Cape Town (UCT) revised its approach to managing the COVID-19 pandemic on UCT campuses in 2022.
Read the latest document available on the UCT policies web page.

 

Campus communications

 
2022

Adjusting to our new environment 16:50, 23 June 2022
VC Open Lecture and other updates 17:04, 13 April 2022
Feedback from UCT Council meeting of 12 March 2022 09:45, 18 March 2022
UCT Council
March 2022 graduation celebration 16:45, 8 March 2022
Report on the meeting of UCT Council of 21 February 2022 19:30, 21 February 2022
UCT Council
COVID-19 management 2022 11:55, 14 February 2022
Return to campus arrangements 2022 11:15, 4 February 2022

UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre

On Wednesday, 20 July, staff from the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Faculty of Health Sciences came together with representatives from the Western Cape Government at the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre at Forest Hill Residence to acknowledge the centre’s significance in the fight against COVID-19 and to thank its staff for their contributions. The centre opened on 1 September 2021 with the aim of providing quality vaccination services to UCT staff, students and the nearby communities, as well as to create an opportunity for medical students from the Faculty of Health Sciences to gain practical public health skills. The vaccination centre ceased operations on Friday, 29 July 2022.

With the closure of the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, if you still require access to a COVID-19 vaccination site please visit the CovidComms SA website to find an alternative.

 

“After almost a year of operation, the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, located at the Forest Hill residence complex in Mowbray, will close on Friday, 29 July 2022. I am extremely grateful and proud of all staff, students and everyone involved in this important project.”
– Vice-Chancellor Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng

With the closure of the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, if you still require access to a COVID-19 vaccination site please visit the CovidComms SA website to find an alternative.


Thank You UCT Community

Frequently asked questions

 

Global Citizen Asks: Are COVID-19 Vaccines Safe & Effective?

UCT’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) collaborated with Global Citizen, speaking to trusted experts to dispel vaccine misinformation.



If you have further questions about the COVID-19 vaccine check out the FAQ produced by the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation (DTHF). The DTHF has developed a dedicated chat function where you can ask your vaccine-related questions on the bottom right hand corner of the website.

IDM YouTube channel | IDM website
 

 

“As a contact university, we look forward to readjusting our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in 2023 as the COVID-19 regulations have been repealed.”
– Prof Harsha Kathard, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning

We are continuing to monitor the situation and we will be updating the UCT community regularly – as and when there are further updates. If you are concerned or need more information, students can contact the Student Wellness Service on 021 650 5620 or 021 650 1271 (after hours), while staff can contact 021 650 5685.

 

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