The global pandemic proved that strong people can make the impossible happen according to Dianne Joannidis, Manager – Aged Care & OxyCare at BOC in Australia.
Q: What was the biggest pandemic issue for aged care providers?
It was crucial for aged care and healthcare providers to have constant supply of medical gases, respiratory products and services to support residents with health conditions that required therapy.
Fortunately BOC has eight production plants across Australia providing medical gas, a relief indeed to many providers needing reliable supply during the pandemic.
Q: How did your team deliver during the massive COVID spikes?
I’m proud of the work our team did with customers to ensure a balanced and fair delivery program of medical devices. This avoided the need for panic buying.
BOC upscaled production so additional cylinders were available for the supply chain to cover surges. Thankfully Australia limited the virus early and this helped us build capacity to deliver enough medical product and allowed us to supply countries in Asia and the South Pacific in their time of need.
Q: How do you think BOC differs from other suppliers?
BOC is the only company in Australia able to manufacture multiple times the medical oxygen consumed nationally on a typical day. We also have the capacity to store months’ worth of oxygen across the nation, making us the ‘go-to’ company for oxygen supply to hospitals and aged care facilities.
Client relationship managers in each state ensured reliable supply. We increased stocks of respiratory devices in Australia and engaged manufacturing partners globally to ensure order volumes could increase.
Q: How did you ensure smooth deliveries of critical medical gas and equipment in COVID times?
We invested heavily in our rental fleet of medical equipment including over one thousand new oxygen concentrators, hundreds of regulators, and new cylinder handling equipment.
BOC stock most products in multiple locations and have an extensive transport fleet to deliver across Australia.
We often airfreight goods into the country instead of traditional sea freight. This ensured products were available for customers as soon as possible, even though costs couldn’t be fully recouped.
Q: Was cleaning and hygiene a bigger safety issue?
Safety is always top priority for BOC and we developed special disinfection protocols for rental medical equipment and cylinders to ensure the safety of our customers and staff.
Q: What is your view of future pandemic-proofing supply of medical gas and equipment?
We are constantly collaborating with aged care and healthcare facilities to deliver for their needs of tomorrow. That’s the big learning – we are there for all our clients constantly adapting and being agile.
The best part of my job is investing in people who are a phone call away to help customers with every tomorrow that arrives.
BOC is a trading name of BOC Limited, a Linde company. © BOC Limited 2022. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. Details given in this document are believed to be correct at the time of printing. Whilst proper care has been taken in the preparation, no liability for injury or damage resulting from its improper use can be accepted.
