Peninsula Private staff at coalface of life and death battle at St Basil’s, Fawkner
The largest private hospital on the Mornington Peninsula has intensified its efforts to help Melbourne’s virus-plagued aged care homes. Here’s how.
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Brave medical staff from Peninsula Private in Frankston have joined the deadly battle against the coronavirus at St Basils.
The move is part of a pandemic agreement between private hospital operator Ramsay Health and the Victorian Government and comes after 25 frail residents St Basils and Epping Gardens were evacuated to the McClelland Drive hospital.
Staff from other Ramsay Health sites including Donvale and Warringal hospitals have been redeployed to Heritage Epping Gardens.
Glenferrie Private in Hawthorn has also provided refuge for aged care residents from Melbourne’s coronavirus-plagues aged care homes.
Ramsay Health confirmed that 25 residents were moved to Peninsula Private Hospital and a further nine were relocated to at Glenferrie Private.
Surgery from the Hawthorn site was moved to make room for the aged care residents.
The health status of the residents was not clear and some Mornington Peninsula residents were worried about the potential risk they posed.
Phil Culhane sad it was “disgraceful” to move the residents to a region with a large elderly population.
“334 healthcare workers with COVID in Victoria so it stands to reason that it will now start the spread in this community from the workers (at) that hospital,” he posted on social media.
Others called for compassion.
“If it means they are in a safe area why not? They happen to be humans, try showing compassion,” Gina Smith posted.
A Ramsay Health spokeswoman said the global hospital company was proud to be able to help “incredibly vulnerable patients” but would not accept any patients that “posed a risk to the local community”.
“The safety of our patients, our staff, doctors and our community remain our paramount priority during our response to this pandemic,” she said.
She said the residents were being treated as “suspect cases”
“We manage them under full safety precautions until their COVID-19 status is confirmed.
“These groups are currently being accommodated in separate, dedicated wards away from other patients in our hospitals.”
The first group of six residents arrived at Peninsula Private Hospital from aged care homes currently overrun with the virus on Sunday night.
It was not clear which homes the residents were evacuated from.
The hospitals have strict rules in place which prevent visitors from entering unless they are providing support to a maternity patient, are carers of patients with a disability, parents of children in hospital, offering end of life support or supporting a patient in the emergency department.
Other exceptions are assessed on a case-by-case basis and need approval by hospital executive staff.
There are currently 877 active cases connected to aged care.
According to the Department of Health of Human Services (DHHS) 10 of the 13 new coronavirus deaths reported on Wednesday were related to aged care facilities.
The latest DHHS figures revealed there were 38 active cases in Frankston - up seven - and 14 - up two - on the Mornington Peninsula as of midnight Wednesday.
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