Covid emergency heroes become the latest victims at St Basil’s nursing home

Emergency healthcare workers rushed into Victoria’s most COVID-ravaged nursing home struck down by killer virus.

The body of a patient who died at St Basil’s aged-care home in Fawkner is taken away. Picture: Jason Edwards

Emergency healthcare workers rushed into Victoria’s most COVID-ravaged nursing home have been struck down by the killer virus, prompting a full evacuation of the centre.

Six replacement workers at St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Melbourne’s north — part of the federal government’s “surge team” hastily assembled when the home’s entire workforce was required to isolate 10 days ago — have tested positive and are now in isolation.

Authorities late on Friday scrambled a fleet of ambulances to transfer the 30 remaining residents, including 20 with dementia, to hospitals around Melbourne.

Highlighting the dangers to which healthcare workers across many settings are being exposed, an emergency doctor in his 30s and a GP in his 60s are in intensive care, both struck down by the virus. And at least six staff from one ward at St Vincent’s Hospital have also ­tested positive. More than 600 healthcare workers across Victoria are COVID-positive, 65 more on Friday alone, leading to warnings of severe healthcare workforce shortages and proposals to seek assistance from other service sectors including the airline industry.

 

Federal Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said the figures revealed the courage of workers in health and aged care who continued to front up to work each day.

“This week has been very challenging for the brave men and women on the frontline, including our defence force medical personnel, public and private hospital staff, and our wonderful aged-care workforce,” he said. “I want to sincerely thank them all for the work they’ve done so far and for putting themselves in harm’s way.”

The strain on Victoria’s health and aged-care systems came on another bleak day for the state, which recorded 627 cases out of a national total of 653. It was the second worst day of the pandemic after Thursday’s record number of 723 in the state.

Eight people died of the virus in the previous 24 hours in Victoria, including four in nursing homes, at least one a St Basil’s resident.

Sixty-three residents of aged-care centres have died since July 11 and the grim count could run to well over 100. There are currently 514 nursing home residents who have tested positive for coronavirus, and conservative estimates suggest a 25 per cent death rate. So far only three nursing home residents are understood to have fully recovered from the virus.

Premier Daniel Andrews flagged the possibility of tighter ­restrictions for Victorians if the high case totals did not improve.

Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire are already more than halfway through a six-week stage-three lockdown, and authorities had ­expected a downward trend of coronavirus cases by now.  Mr Andrews said he and Scott Morrison had discussed Victoria’s position and “further steps” might be required. “We have data that marks the halfway point and we have numbers that are too high,” the Premier said.

Adding to the concern is that the outbreak in Victoria’s nursing homes shows no signs of slowing.

Joe Buffone, head of the newly created Victorian Aged Care ­Response Centre, revealed that 23 more residential aged-care centres had been found to have positive cases between Thursday and Friday, taking the total with active cases to 103.

Senator Colbeck warned that the nation had to expect more nursing home deaths, and potentially more workers contracting COVID-19.

“Aged-care workers are not immune to this virus. Until community transmission is brought under control it will be extraordinarily difficult to stabilise the situation in Victoria,” he said.

St Basil’s remains the state’s worst-hit nursing home, with 124 cases so far, including the six from the surge workforce.

The decision to move all ­remaining residents into hospitals had not been made lightly, said the nation’s chief nursing and midwifery officer Alison McMillan.

“We know there is a risk associated with moving very vulnerable people, particularly those that have dementia,“ Professor McMillan said.

She said the Victorian health and aged-care system was under strain, and finding appropriately skilled workers to look after aged-care residents was challenging when so many were unavailable through having the virus or being isolated as a close contact.

“We are struggling, I admit, to identify nurses and patient care assistants across the system,” she said.

Professor McMillan said that while nurses were coming from South Australia and Western Australia, a longer-term solution had to be found to supplement the healthcare workforce.

“People who may have come out of service industries, or for ­instance the airline industries, these are the type of people who have the type of skills that we’re looking for to aid in training more in the coming months because this is a long road,” she said.

Sean Rooney, chief executive of aged-care provider group Leading Age Services Australia, said that until community transmission was brought under control aged care residents would be under threat from coronavirus.

“It is shocking that so many people appear to be putting vulnerable at-risk Australians in the firing line of COVID-19,” Mr Rooney said.

He said aged-care workers were making a courageous decision every time they stepped into a nursing home.