Loving couple’s courage takes the cake

Graeme and Florence Hansen celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary on the same day their Melbourne aged care facility went into hard lockdown.

Florence and Graeme Hansen celebrate their 67th anniversary in lockdown.

Graeme and Florence Hansen celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary on the same day their Melbourne aged care facility went into hard lockdown.

In their wedding photo, taken on May 29, 1954, Florence wears a long white dress and holds a bouquet of flowers in one hand and Graeme’s arm with the other. The couple, now aged 90 and 91, are both smiling.

On Saturday, a healthcare worker linked to Arcare, a woman in her 50s, tested positive, triggering the hard lockdown of the facility in the suburb of Maidstone in Melbourne’s inner northwest.

The Hansens’ daughter, Maureen Miller, 52, said her parents were taking everything in their stride and said she trusted Arcare to keep them safe.

“Dad’s got vascular dementia so I’d love to be in his world sometimes, because he’s oblivious to what’s going on sometimes,” she said. “Mum’s more switched on … she’s a fighter.”

On Friday, the lovebirds commemorated their anniversary a day early by sharing a cake covered with Kiwi fruit in their room at Arcare.

On Monday, a blonde woman wearing a face shield was carried out on a stretcher by two healthcare workers in hazmat suits just after 2.15pm.

One of three children, Ms Miller said she was focusing on carrying on through lockdown and was able to call her parents, who have a phone in their room.

“You’ve just got to do what you do,” she said. “My brother is stressing out (but) my sister and I are coping OK.

Florence and Graeme Hansen on their wedding day in 1954.

“I’ve got a small business I’m trying to keep running while in lockdown and my sister works in the aged care sector so we have something to keep us occupied.”

The virus has since spread to a resident, a woman in her 90s, and a healthcare worker who worked at another aged care facility in Sunshine.

Ms Miller said her parents had received their first dose of Pfizer and were due to get their second jab on Monday.

“As soon as it (the vaccine) was offered to our parents we didn't hesitate to fill out the vaccination forms,” she said.

Health authorities are battling to contain the outbreak, which has spread to four nursing homes and brought dark memories of the second wave that claimed the lives of 655 Victorian aged care residents last year.

Two of the worst-hit homes were St Basil’s Home for the Aged and Epping Gardens Aged Care, where 45 and 38 residents died ­respectively.

At BlueCross in Sunshine, resident Lynn Brooks, 72, said morale among staff had plummeted since they learnt of the positive case.

“One of the workers came in and she was all gowned up” she said. “Straight away I knew. I said ‘oh no, we’ve got it in here’.”