Life and death clash at virus-plagued aged care home
The boss of the coronavirus-plagued Epping Gardens aged care home has denied claims the centre was locked in a stand-off with health officials, as staff from Austin Health have been brought in to offer “clinical leadership” after 86 residents have been infected.
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Austin Health staff are now providing “clinical leadership” at the virus-ridden Epping Gardens aged care home, after health officials were on Wednesday night locked in an extraordinary stand-off with the operator of the coronavirus-plagued aged care home.
Senior state government sources said the refusal of Heritage Care, which runs the Epping Gardens nursing home, to relinquish control was putting dozens of other lives at risk.
The nursing home has already lost two residents to the virus.
Austin Health staff were forced to request a federal intervention after days of failed attempts to take charge.
Health workers were blocked from separating residents who had tested positive to COVID-19 from others in the home, sources said.
Officials were seeking to keep the healthy apart from the sick while they sourced alternative accommodation for those with the virus.
But the boss at Epping Gardens Aged Care has denied the standoff claims.
General manager Alistair Cooray told the Herald Sun claims Heritage Care was refusing to relinquish control of the centre were “completely untrue”.
“We are all manned by Austin Health staff and the DHHS has been here for the past few days,” he said.
“They have access to everything.”
The Herald Sun understands the operator is also taking advice from an independent adviser in line with a notice from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.
The federal government anticipates the situation will be stabilised on Thursday morning.
It was revealed by the Herald Sun management also refused to hand over contact details for families, state sources said.
Hours earlier, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a streamlined “one-to-one” system to keep families informed about their elderly loved ones was being set up.
Health officials last night pleaded for assistance from the federal government, which is responsible for regulating private aged-care providers, saying they were powerless to enforce an intervention without that help.
It comes as seven deaths were on Wednesday linked to Victoria’s aged-care crisis, taking the total death toll connected to the sector to 46.
More than 950 cases of COVID-19 have been linked to aged-care facilities, with active outbreaks across 87 separate centres, as 295 new cases were recorded across the state on Wednesday.
At Epping Gardens, at least 27 staff and 59 residents have contracted the coronavirus.
The Herald Sun has been told senior staff have refused to work, with a triple-0 call for emergency assistance made on Monday because only four staff members were on duty.
Government sources said concerns had been raised about the operator’s ability to take over the clinical care.
Residents have reported being left unwashed for days.
Loved ones of Epping Gardens residents have shared their fears as they are unable to get through to their elderly relatives on the phone.
Sue Cashman has been unable to speak to her 95-year-old mother Peggy Shallcross despite repeated attempts.
“I can’t get a hold of Mum - it is an absolute disgrace,” Ms Cashman said.
“She will be in tears not being able to speak to us.
“It is life and death. I want my mum looked after. You wouldn’t treat your dog like this.
“You wouldn’t read about this in the third world, let alone Melbourne.”
Ms Cashman said the facility was in chaos and alleges her mother hasn’t been fed properly since the COVID-19 outbreak.
“She is not getting fed and she has been showering herself although she is a severe falls risk,” she said.
“The management are a bunch of clowns who need to be locked up.”
She said there had been 10 elderly residents who had tested positive to coronavirus on her mother’s floor but others were free to roam the facility, putting them at a heightened risk of being exposed to the virus.
“She doesn’t understand the danger she is in,” she said.
“I am concerned she’s going to get it and it will finish her off and kill her.
“The sad part is no one has sat them down and said how dangerous this is. They can’t comprehend it.”
The family of Epping Gardens resident Thelma Hyatt, who died on Tuesday, say they were called by a staff member from the home almost 11 hours later and told: “When are you going to move the body? You need to move her because she’s in a body bag and we don’t have a fridge facility. And she’s deteriorating while we speak.”
Ms Hyatt’s shocked son Tom told the home he would make arrangements, but was then pressed by the staff member, who said: “We really need her out of here.”
A funeral director wasn’t able to collect the 89-year-old’s body until more than a day after her death.
“She was in her body bag laying on her bed for more than 26 hours. I don’t know how it happened, it’s absolutely blown me away,” Mr Hyatt said.
“You could show a bit of heart, you know? But it was this whole sour thing.
“The staff member just kept saying, ‘Her body’s deteriorating’. Do you really need to keep telling me that? It’s just shock horror. I couldn’t comprehend the tone, it came across as a demand that I needed to be there. Then they wouldn’t answer their phone.”
The Herald Sun has learned the state government was also locked in a similar standoff with St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner, linked to 11 coronavirus deaths.
Federal Health Department secretary Brendan Murphy warned Victorians should brace for more deaths from aged-care facilities. There are now cases in about 10 per cent of them statewide.
At Estia nursing home in Heidelberg, linked to more than 50 cases, staff have complained of being forced to work while awaiting their COVID-19 test results.
One source said an employee had raised concerns after being forced to work each day this week despite awaiting test results.
“She was tested Sunday and has worked each day this week,” the source said. “She is stressed out she is going to pass it onto her mum and sister.
“She has consoled relatives with loved ones who have passed away, she is young, dealing with this at the coal face with limited training and support.”
An Estia spokesman denied the claims, saying: “All employees who are part of a contact trace for suspected COVID-19 exposure, or have tested positive, are placed in self-isolation for minimum of 14 days and cannot return to work until cleared to do so.”
FINAL DAYS IN DESPAIR, NOT DIGNITY
by Aneeka Simonis
A BODY wrapped in a rug was one of two removed from the stricken Epping Gardens aged-care centre on Wednesday.
Medical staff dressed in protective gear were seen wheeling the body on a stretcher and loading it into a van.
The tragic scene gave an insight into the crisis which has overrun the nursing home, so far claiming the lives of two residents and infecting 86 people with COVID-19.
Carmela Agnello, 92, died at the Northern Hospital on Tuesday afternoon. She was strong of mind until she contracted coronavirus at Epping Gardens last week.
A “family woman”, she lived for her two children, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
But she was alone and confused when she took her final breath.
Anna Mattia said she was angry at how the family was “robbed” of their beloved great-grandmother.
“We go through stages where we are really angry and sometimes we want to just push it all aside and remember her and forget what has happened,” Ms Mattia said.
The Italian-Australian family said their final goodbyes via a video call on Sunday.
“We told her we loved her because we didn’t know if it would be the last time,” Ms Mattia said.
“She asked what was wrong with her, and didn’t understand what was happening.
“She went to sleep on Monday and never woke up. She was on morphine and her organs were shutting down.
“She was still very strong in her mind and could have lived longer.”
On Tuesday a big number of sick residents were evacuated from Epping Gardens to private hospitals to give them a better chance at survival.
An independent adviser has been installed by the federal government to oversee the welfare of residents, amid a host of allegations against staff.
Concetta Mineo, 89, was found face down and crying in the bathroom after a fall while locked in her room on Tuesday. The great-grandmother was transferred to the Royal Melbourne Hospital for brain and heart scans and tested negative to the virus.
Her family said she had been neglected at the home and that it was a “blessing” for her to be sent to hospital.
Photos taken by Ms Mineo’s family show her with a severely bruised face after an earlier fall.
Daughter Nella claimed a lack of care at Epping Gardens, including leaving Ms Mineo stranded on the toilet and without her hip guards and working hearing aids.
Last week her terrified family resorted to calling all the major hospitals in search of Ms Mineo because Epping Gardens did not take their calls.
“We were beside ourselves,” Nella said.
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission wrote to the families of residents on Tuesday night, saying it had become evident the home was “struggling to ensure quality and safety of care”.
Epping Gardens management were ordered to report daily to the commission and comply with all directions issued by Victorian authorities.
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