industry & reform
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Rapid response
The benefits of rapid COVID-19 testing in aged care homes .
Chris Mamarelis interviewed by Conor Bourke
Aged care provider Whiddon has implemented rapid COVID-19 testing at its largest aged care campus , Whiddon Easton Park in Glenfield , NSW . They ’ re using Rapid antigen tests : on-the-spot screening tests that detect antigens , or proteins , found on the surface of the virus , and deliver a positive or negative result in just 10 minutes .
Whiddon CEO Chris Mamarelis joined Aged Care Insite to talk about the tests as well as the vaccine rollout and what the September 17 deadline for mandatory vaccines will mean for his staff .
ACI : What ’ s the thinking behind this move ? CM : We had been keeping an eye on the lockdown and how the latest levels of community transmission was increasing , and we saw it closing in on us at Glenfield , being in the heart of Southwest Sydney .
The risk started to increase , and we had the vaccination program rolling out with our team members . We still had , by our standards , low levels of vaccination rates . And we started thinking , ‘ what else can we do to mitigate the risk , and protect our employees and our residents at Glenfield ?’. And context is important because our site at Glenfield is quite large . It ’ s one of the largest sites you ’ ll find in aged care with almost 600 residents across multiple homes . It ’ s a blended community with a hub for home care and a retirement village as well . There ’ s a lot of risk there .
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The reality is the effort and energy that goes into this … it ’ s not sustainable .
The Premier announced that everyone in your area , including aged care workers , is prioritised for the Pfizer vaccine . Has that been welcomed among staff ? We know there ’ s vaccine hesitancy , there ’ s confusion among the general population , and people in aged care are no different . When you speak to them , they share all of those same concerns and issues . I think making it easier for the team to access the vaccine is really important . And we jumped from 15 to 50 per cent vaccination because we had an In-Reach team visit us , and our team members were able to access the vaccine while they were working , while we were paying them .
We know there are strategies that are going to make it a lot easier , and there ’ s discussion going on now about
8 agedcareinsite . com . au