March 21, 2024
by Courtney Dunn
Blog
Celebrating World Down Syndrome Day 2024
March 21st marks a significant day on the global calendar – World Down Syndrome Day. It’s a d...
As the COVID-19 crisis continues to develop, we wanted to reassure our customers, their families and our employees, that we are closely monitoring the situation and adjusting our services with your health and safety as our main priority.
Last week Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that disability service providers like Breakthru delivered essential services. This means we will continue to deliver essential services to ensure our customers are supported through these difficult times.
Suspension and Adjustment of services
To continue providing services safely under the Government’s social distancing guidelines we have made the following changes:
- All face to face group based supports are suspended effective from Monday, 30 March 2020 until further notice (no group services will be delivered on Monday).
- Face to face individual supports are continuing for people who need essential supports. This is reviewed regularly in line with government advice.
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Where possible Breakthru employees will provide services to you via video, phone or other technology.
Video and phone support options
Most of our workforce will now provide video and phone support options for customers by request and wherever possible.
If you’re interested in using our online video/phone platform, please reach out to your Breakthru staff member or contact us on 1800 767 212 to discuss your next appointment.
NDIA assistance
The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has also implemented the following new policies to ensure customers can access adequate support:
- NDIS plans for all participants will be extended by up to 24 months to ensure continuity of support
- Face to face planning will be shifted to telephone meetings where possible.
- More flexibility will be allowed when using capacity building funds (shifting it to core supports when necessary)
- An FAQ has been made available and will be regularly updated with new questions from participants on the NDIS website.
- A temporary 10% fee increase on some NDIS prices and changes to the cancellation policy have also been made.
Moving forward
As we are an essential service, Breakthru are investigating further measures to ensure minimal disruption to our employees and customers during this crisis.
The situation continues to change every day and Breakthru are working with the relevant Government departments and peak bodies to monitor the impact of COVID-19.
For further information about Coronavirus, please contact the Australian Government’s National Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 020 080.
For concerns around services and support at Breakthru, please contact us on 1800 767 212.
The Breakthru Team
