Aged care coronavirus: Worker in Hume details safety and PPE horrors
Taking residents to the toilet with only one glove, not having access to masks and no hand sanitiser. A former aged care worker at a facility in Hume has detailed the horrors she endured during the coronavirus outbreak.
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An aged care worker has detailed the horrors she endured at a centre in Hume where she was told by management to use only one glove while taking residents to the toilet.
The personal care assistant was forced to quit her job in May having worked at the establishment for just under 18 months.
The Craigieburn mother of two, who asked to remain anonymous, said she resigned due to stress and anxiety she developed on the job after facing increased pressures from management due to COVID-19, and a lack of access to PPE.
Since resigning she has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression.
“I was made a supervisor after about two or three months of working as a personal care assistant, but the increasing number of residents, lack of staff on the floor, limited access to gloves and strict limitations on incontinence pads for dementia patients, became too much to deal with,” she said.
“I was working in dementia, helping residents to use the shower and taking them to the toilet.
“There were just six or seven pairs of gloves for the morning shift between two of us, caring for five elderly people with dementia.
“We had to change each dementia patient more than two or three times after they went to the toilet.”
She said if the resident was categorised as needing high care two people would be needed to change them, but only one worker could wear gloves while taking them to the toilet and the second worker would go without.
“Management said whenever there is blood or you are taking a resident to the toilet you must wear gloves but they never gave us enough to be able to actually do this,” she said.
“Managers would say ‘just wear one glove on one hand’.”
The workers were also only given one shower chair and expected to shower 16 residents and wash the chair each time, while masks were reserved for doctors and physios.
“They didn’t want to run out of masks if the situation got worse later,” she said.
“I would have liked to see more masks and PPE being used. I also would have liked to see more staff. They still don’t have the amount of staff they need.”
The facility’s hand sanitiser lasted “two or three days, and then it was gone”.
The lingering effects of the horrors endured by the worker have been felt by her family and friends.
“Every night I can’t sleep because I’m thinking about what happened to me,” she said.
“My family asks me why I don’t cook or do anything anymore. I’m like a different person.
“I do miss working but there was no chance I could continue working there.
“I don’t have any income from Centrelink. I lost my salary. It’s been devastating.
“I feel dead inside. I put more than 100 per cent of myself in for that job.”
Recent research conducted by Kantar Australia revealed 49 per cent of aged care workers have been struggling with their work/life balance throughout COVID-19.
Slater and Gordon principal lawyer Alisha Muscara said it was disappointing management at the facility had made it so hard for workers to access the protective equipment they needed.
She said it had put workers and residents at a greater risk of being exposed to COVID-19.
“A colleague recently wrote an email supporting her in respect to the allegations of what went on in the workplace,” she said.
“It’s sad that a disregard for safety and the importance of protective wear have caused a hardworking disability carer to leave the industry.”
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