Coronavirus: We trusted them and yet St Basil’s let Mum down

Spiros Vasilakis says he trusted St Basil’s to care for his beloved mum Maria but it failed to save her from the killer coronavirus

Spiros Vasilakis lost his mother, Maria to COVID-19 last Thursday in Northern Hospital after being transferred from St Basil’s Home for the Aged. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Maria Vasilakis died in Northern Hospital last Thursday of COVID-19.

For her family, the loss of a mother and grandmother was compounded by failings in the nursing home they had trusted.

Spiros Vasilakis said the family had turned to St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner in February last year when Maria needed a higher level of care than the family and visiting carers could provide.

The family had previously complained about the standard of food residents received but Mr Vasilakis said the issued paled to “absolutely insignificant” compared to the facility’s response to the coronavirus.

He said the facility had personal protective equipment stockpiled long before the government required its use but the home did not mandate staff to wear it, despite a staff member testing positive.

“That’s rubbish. Common sense must prevail,” he said.

“You’re on the scene, you’re on the spot. You have better judgment of what you should be doing.”

Mr Vasilakis said all residents were tested for coronavirus in the week of July 13 and relatives were under the assumption they wouldn’t be notified if their loved one tested negative.

He said the family was told on Friday July 17 that Maria had tested positive but her vital signs were very strong and she would face a greater risk in hospital.

Two days later, they were told Maria was dying of coronavirus.

“Then we see things start to unravel before our eyes,” Mr Vasilakis said.

He said a woman in a walker with dementia would wander into residents’ rooms even if the resident had coronavirus.

He also noticed contamination of PPE and different levels of knowledge between the usual staff members and nurses from the hospital who were seconded to the facility.

“As far as I’m concerned, [St Basil’s] let down staff and residents,” he said.

Maria Vasilakis.

The family saw Maria for the last time at St Basil’s last Tuesday, when, Mr Vasilakis said, the staff told him her condition had stabilised.

She was taken to hospital the next day and her family had five minutes with her in the emergency department of Northern Hospital for what was their final farewell.

On Thursday, St Basil’s called and gave the update that Maria was in her room. “While wasting time with that call, the hospital was trying to contact us to tell us that Mum had just passed away,” Mr Vasilakis said.

“The next day, we got the invoice for the August fees.”

Mr Vasilakis said there was a Zoom conference of families on Sunday with federal Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson and Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy.

“We were just amazed that they had no idea what was going on,” he said. “[We were] getting told loved ones were in their room and the loved ones were actually in the hospital in their last days.

“The families don’t want St Basil’s shut down or to lose its license. We want the existing residents to be in a safer residence.”