industry & reform
all alone. The Maroba dementia wing has
been converted to a makeshift isolation
wing for sick residents, but Allanson
said her residents have not been able to
get a test for COVID-19 due to a lack of
testing reagents.
“We don’t have enough PPE. And you’re
telling us you’re not going to test people…
And you’re not giving us the support we
need. They just say, ‘Oh, we’ll just treat
everybody as if they’ve got it.’ But we don’t
have enough PPE for that.
“Now, that flies in the face of infection
control practises for aged care. Well,
who’s going to stand up before the royal
commission about that? Not them. It’ll
be me.”
Allanson worries that if any residents do
test positive for the coronavirus, she won’t
be able to get them out of the home and
into hospital isolation. The message she
has received so far is that hospitals would
only take patients if they “would benefit
from hospitalisation”. She is also worried
that ambulances might not even transport
COVID-19 patients.
“We’re in talks with COVID patient
transport companies because we aren’t
confident that the ambulance service
within our area would even take people.
“So, we’re negotiating on the
side. Because we believe they are
Australian citizens and they have the same
right as a 30-year-old to be carried off to
hospital.”
On top of these issues Allanson said
staffing the home during the pandemic has
been a challenge, as has the increased costs
associated with the screening process and
the loss of income due to closing 12 beds
to create the new isolation wing, which will
cost Maroba $1.2 million per year.
Allanson is angry and concerned, but she
is happy in the knowledge that her home
has taken the extra precautions to keep
people safe because, ultimately, she will be
held responsible for any loss of life due to
an outbreak of COVID-19, she said.
“We’re taking all the right steps. Now
again, government officials, or people
from the quality and safety commission
might think I overstepped because the
code still says, ‘Well, look, you still should
be having people in your facility and all the
rest of it.’
“But under normal day-to-day business
pre-pandemic, if a facility had an outbreak
of an infectious disease, the health facility
would be shut down. But under visiting
codes, I can’t do that. I have to just manage
by shutting down a wing, and then limiting
people’s movement. All the staff of that
area can’t go out of that area. No coming
and going from that area.
“Those people won’t be dragged across
the Royal Commission. They won’t be
on the Nine O’clock news saying ‘Well
gee, you played a part in this facility
contracting COVID-19. You didn’t obey
the rules.’ Then suddenly, they think that
now it’s all the responsibility of the CEO,”
she said.
“We are fortunate here. We have the
majority of our families backing us. And
the majority of people are doing the right
thing. But as you know, it only takes one
that wasn’t doing the right thing to be the
one to bring it in.” ■
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agedcareinsite.com.au 11