Vasili
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Vasili is a resident of an aged care home and has seen how it responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. He told the Royal Commission that while initially the home was slow in rolling out contact tracing procedures, all staff and visitors are now being checked in when they enter the home.
Other proactive measures include ensuring staff take paid leave if they are feeling unwell, which Vasili says is important because ‘their value has become much more obvious to us on the inside’.
He is, however, critical of other measures such as in-house social distancing rules which are not only disruptive, they’re also ineffective. He described as ‘ludicrous’ the situation of staff being required to maintain distance in the dining room, only to find themselves later dealing ‘hands-on with residents for toileting, feeding and the like’.
‘The biggest threat is sick staff followed by sick visitors. Social distancing inside may tick [a] box but is very disruptive, damaging and of little real value.’
Vasili is particularly concerned about the impact of the health measures on family relationships such as a ‘husband or wife being unable to visit a spouse’, while young staff ‘who may have been anywhere while off duty are able to stroll with residents’.
Vasili suggests one way to reduce the impact on staff workload. The aged care home could employ a dedicated 'gatekeeper' to check visitors’ temperatures.
He says that if the home is serious about social distancing, then it should be more vigilant checking residents’ temperatures, suggesting it be done when medications are being handed out.
Vasili feels that some of the government’s COVID-19 safety measures have been 'knee jerk' responses which result in vulnerable people getting ‘caught in the crossfire’.
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.