Elderly left at death’s door in St Basil’s nightmare
The shocking medical condition of the elderly at Victoria’s deadliest nursing home has been revealed, with residents found dehydrated and starving, while some were just hours from death.
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Starving and dehydrated, dozens of residents inside Victoria’s most deadly aged care facility outbreak were just hours from death before an urgent intervention.
Exclusive details obtained by the Herald Sun reveal the shocking medical assessment of residents rescued from St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner.
Over the course of the past week, many residents were found to be dehydrated, malnourished and moribund (at the point of death).
Authorities on Friday night moved the 30 remaining residents from the home into private hospitals after the crisis at the facility intensified.
“They would have died if left like that for another 24 to 48 hours,” a source told the Herald Sun. “Families are angry. Many didn’t know their relatives were COVID positive including one who died. They have been told nothing for weeks to months.
“There has been inadequate care for quite some time for a group of patients who need extensive care,” the source said.
Residents were being transferred to Knox and Bellbird private hospitals.
Observations from a rapid assessment on the condition of the first 14 residents transferred found they were all dehydrated and most were semi conscious. Many had very low oxygen levels, fever and pneumonia from COVID-19.
Residents had not eaten or drunk anything all day, while some residents had not received vital medication.
Some residents arrived soiled, dehydrated, malnourished and hypotensive with most non-verbal and comatose.
Two diabetic residents had very low blood sugar levels on arrival at hospital with many arriving in dirty clothes, and some wearing other people’s clothes. One resident died at hospital after the transfer.
“The residents require extensive care, which would be demanding for staff in the home,” a source said. “Patients are incontinent and demented. A constant effort is needed to get them to eat and drink.”
The decision to move the residents was made after six staff — who were brought in after the facility’s entire workforce was stood down — all tested positive to COVID-19.
More than 120 cases have now been linked to the facility, including at least 78 resident cases and 35 staff cases.
In a letter to families of residents St Basil’s management said this week it had cancelled resident fees.
The management was directed to vacate the home last week and were replaced by a government appointed replacement workforce. Before the intervention residents had complained of being bed bound for more than a week without being fed or cleaned.
It comes as community transmission numbers continued to climb on Friday as Victoria recorded its second biggest daily rise in infections, with 627 new cases and eight people losing their lives.
Residents linked to nursing home outbreaks made up half of the deaths recorded, taking the state’s total number virus fatalities to 113.
These included two men in their 50s, two men in their 70s, one woman in her 70s and three men in their 80s.
The devastated family of a St Basil’s resident who died on Friday said they had “serious questions” over the care the grandmother received before she died.
Nicolina Pingiaro died in the early hours of Friday morning in the Epworth Hospital.
Her grandson John Laruccia said he was repeatedly told his grandmother was “doing fine” by St Basil’s staff before she was transferred to hospital.
“Every time I called the nursing home for an update on Nonna’s condition once being told she had tested positive, I was told that she was asymptomatic and ‘doing fine’,” Mr Laruccia said.
A 33-year-old female GP registrar and a 66-year-old male GP, a Northern Health emergency department registrar and a child younger than 10 are all in intensive care.
Late on Friday, abattoir Cedar Meats revealed one of its staff had tested positive, with all its workers now self-isolating after it had been the centre of a cluster.
SAD PARADE OF AGED EVACUATED FROM OUTBREAK EPICENTRE
Clutching her walking aid and wearing a mask, one of St Basil’s last elderly residents made her way to the ambulance waiting for her.
Flanked by nurses and paramedics — dressed head to toe in PPE — she was one of the lucky few residents who didn’t need to be stretchered out of the building.
Just hours later, another resident left St Basil’s — in a brown body bag, their remains wheeled to a white vehicle by two workers dressed in blue protective clothing.
After loading, the workers peeled off layers of PPE to reveal undertakers’ black slacks and waistcoats.
A fleet of ambulances passed through St Basil’s gates as residents were transferred from the Fawkner facility on Friday evening.
More than a dozen patient transport vans pulled into St Basil’s as elderly patients were one by one taken from their rooms by staff.
The last remaining residents left their treasured belongings behind as they were taken from the centre, which with 124 cases is Victoria’s worst aged-care outbreak.
As the ambulances drove out of the iron gates they passed the St Basil’s sign, decorated with floral tributes from well wishers.
Passers-by paused outside the grounds to pay their respects. A letter, fixed to the fence outside the Greek Orthodox home, read “Praying for you”.
It had been four days since Ivan Rukavina’s mother Marija, a St Basil’s resident, died from COVID-19 and his grief was still raw.
Along with his heartbreak for his late mother, Mr Rukavina is angry.
Despite the outpouring of support from the public, he hasn’t received an apology from St Basil’s or the state government.
“Not one person has rang to say ‘we apologise’, either on a national, state or nursing home level. Nothing,” he said.
Mr Rukavina believes the home, in a quiet residential area on Lorne Street, should be knocked down and turned into a memorial — somewhere to bring his kids so they can remember their beloved grandmother.
“I think that’s the minimum the government should be doing, is making it into a memorial park,” he said.
“This shouldn’t be operating as a profit maker down the track. Shut them down, take their licence so they can’t function.”
Meanwhile, the devastated families were mistakenly sent bills from the beleaguered nursing home.
“St Basil’s regrets that due to automated systems all monthly accounts were sent out on 21 July, for the next month in advance,’’ management wrote in a letter distributed on Friday.
“With the order to ‘vacate’ the home we overlooked stopping the accounts from being sent out and we unreservedly apologise for any offence that was caused by this.”
The nursing home said it had now halted fees from July 22, when the government-appointed workforce took over, and residents moved to hospitals wouldn’t be charged until their return.
Just a short drive north, emotions were also running high outside of Epping Gardens aged care home.
Throughout the morning, families arrived at the centre in the desperate search for answers and updates on the wellbeing of their loved ones.
Among them was John Jasinski.
Mr Jasinski, supported by his wife Glenda and daughter Veraneeka, stood outside Epping Gardens clutching the Bible his father Stanislaw brought with him to Australia from Poland more than 60 years ago.
He was told that his father, 95, would be transferred to hospital on Friday to be treated for the virus.
The Lalor man said he had been continuously phoning the Epping Gardens home for updates on his father but his calls were unanswered.
“The communication we’ve had, it has been so bad,” he said.
“I’d run kilometres to see my father if I have to, if I can’t get through. This place will not pick up the phone.
“I put him in January and I’m sorry I did it.
“Now I could lose him. This is going to kill me.”
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