Coronavirus: Daughter’s anguish: are the ambos here for mum?

When an ambulance pulled up to Epping Gardens aged-care facility, Luci Larubina had no idea if it was there for her mum.

Luci Larubina and her son Patrick talk to staff outside the Epping Gardens aged-care facility where Ms Larubina’s 85-year-old mother Elsa is staying. Picture: Aaron Francis

When an ambulance pulled into the driveway of Heritage Care’s Epping Gardens aged-care facility on Monday, Luci Larubina had no idea if it was there for her 85-year-old mother.

Ms Larubina said she had been calling the facility since Friday to learn how her mother, who suffers from dementia, was faring, but no one was answering her calls.

On Monday she showed up in person, waiting outside the glass doors until a staff member came to speak to her and hear her anger at being kept in the dark.

The Health Department confirmed in a daily briefing that there were 77 cases linked the ­facility in Melbourne’s north, up from 24 on Sunday. Families of residents at the facility, however, were told on Sunday that 83 cases — 61 residents and 22 staff members — had been linked to the home.

Elsa Larubina, a resident of Epping Gardens nursing home

Ms Larubina said she was getting her information from the media and had heard reports that all residents were being moved, but she had heard nothing from the facility.

“I’m really fuming,” she said. “I’m thinking where are they moving my mum.”

Ms Larubina said her mother, Elsa, had moved to Epping Gardens only a few weeks ago while the family sorted out a more permanent arrangement.

She said her mother needed 24-hour care and the silence from the facility raised concerns about whether her mother was eating and drinking.

Ms Larubina had been told that her mother had tested negative for COVID-19 just over a week ago but she didn’t know when the next test would be.

Her mother’s dementia had prevented them from communicating directly over the phone, Ms Larubina said, and she relied on Epping Gardens staff for information.

“I know nothing, they weren’t picking up the phone,” she said. “They should be keeping in contact with us.”

Ms Larubina said she was concerned about staff working at different facilities.

“It’s spreading everywhere and it’s killing all these older people,” she said. “It’s like (no one) cares … she’s my mother, she’s all I’ve got left.”

Ms Larubina was eventually told her mother was OK but left without knowing when her ­mother was last tested and what the facility’s plans for the future were. While Ms Larubina was waiting for information with her son, Patrick, Tony Olibiera ­arrived to wave through the window at his wife, Luigia.

Medical staff remove patients from St Basil’s at Fawkner. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

He said he was concerned that her lung problems would make her more vulnerable to coronavirus but took heart that he could still speak to her every day. “She wants to see me,” he said, adding that he felt powerless to help.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton gave an update on Monday on case numbers in aged-care facilities, saying it was an “inescapable fact” that the elderly residents were at “significant risk of dying”.

“It’s hard to read these out without considering that the residents in these facilities will be people’s parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and they are at significant risk of dying,” Professor Sutton said. “That’s an inescapable fact in these settings.

“Where there are outbreaks in aged care, the mortality is ­extremely high. We know that from European outbreaks in particular. Deaths in aged care made up almost half of deaths in the UK.”

Additional reporting: Rachel Baxendale