Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Standard Story Aged Care Edited by Ms Hente
Standard Story Aged Care Edited by Ms Hente
Inside the box: a clever way to stay safe for elderly community
Precede:
When one aged care facility in Melbourne’s southeast had to ban visitors
to deal with the pandemic, a grandson of one of the elderly residents
came to the rescue. Angus Delaney reports.
Donwood Aged Care Facility CEO Natasha Wilkinson said contact with family was essential
for residents’ wellbeing, and they were worried when they had to ban visitors.
Donwood resident Jenny Shearn, 83, has had several visits from a friend of over 50 years,
Betty Hobson, who said she was grateful for the opportunity.
“I can’t believe how lucky I am,” Ms Hobson said. “I have another friend at a nursing home
where they can’t have visitors at all, so this is wonderful.”
Ms Shearn said she hoped they would soon be allowed physical contact.
All people on the facility property had received a flu shot, food was pre-ordered, personal
protective equipment had to be in place, and temperature checks done on all staff and
residents daily.
As part of that process, visitors were initially banned. Donwood employed a pastoral carer
and rang all of the residents’ relatives to explain.
“We were worried about the impact on the residents, because having their family and
community come in is a large part of their lives,” Ms Wilkinson said.
She said although the nurses could offer some support, residents needed contact with their
families, and the pods had made all the difference.