By Abbey Cannan
Staff at a Noosa aged care facility are working hard to keep the spread of Covid-19 to a minimum after three elderly residents tested positive to the virus.
Although the residents are showing very little symptoms, the staff have been suffering with the personal protective equipment (PPE), fatigue, and long shifts to make up for team mates who are down with Covid.
NoosaCare CEO Megan D’Elton said the first resident tested positive at their Dementia Living environment in Tewantin about two weeks ago.
“Currently we have two residents who have tested positive for Covid,” she said.
“We’re very proud of our staff for keeping the infection outbreak to one confined area and that’s mainly due to their high monitoring of PPE.
“We’ve had staff shortages because of Covid and now that we’re infected on the site, the staff are just really working so hard.
“They are fatigued from wearing the full PPE and it’s really hard for people who don’t wear it to understand what it’s like to have that on all day.
“They are sweating in all the protective gear but we’re doing everything we can to support them.”
NoosaCare is currently not allowing visitors on their two sites, where around 85 per cent of residents have been vaccinated, following advice from Queensland Health.
Clinical Care Coordinator and Infection Protocol Lead Peter Bromley has been working tirelessly in his role which includes overseeing positive cases in staff and residents, contact tracing, following strict protocols, organising PPE stock, and managing staff shortages.
“All of our positive cases in staff haven’t worked on site while positive,” he said.
“It’s been pretty full on with working long days and weekends, just trying to keep on top of everything.”
Ms D’Elton said life continues for residents as normal as they are not isolated to their rooms.
“They are still out and about on the main site doing activities. They’re being connected with their families via Facebook and video and phone calls,” she said.
“We’re very open and transparent with families about what’s happening.
“We just ask that the community recognises how hard it has been for everyone working in aged care at the moment.
“We seem to have been a little bit forgotten by the Government, as we’ve even had to find our own PPE.
“We’re getting our booster vaccinations this week but we were limited to the amount of boosters we could receive, so not all vaccinated residents can get one yet.”
