Vasey RSL Care COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Update

– 26 March 2020 – 

From our CEO

Please be aware that we currently have no confirmed cases of COVID-19. Our five residential aged care homes have been in Temporary Precautionary Lockdown for one week now. We are grateful to everyone associated with our organisation for their acceptance and support of this measure.

Ongoing Lockdown (Residential homes) 

In accordance with state and federal government directives to minimise the risk of COVID-19 entering our community, we plan to maintain lockdown at our residential homes for as long as necessary.

I’ve received many responses from family members expressing support for the lockdown and their gratitude to our organisation for helping protect their loved one. A number of residents have also commented to our staff how grateful they are that our organisation is showing caution and concern.

This is not a time to let our hearts rule our heads – as hard as it is, we have to look at what is happening in other countries where there isn’t enough medical equipment or hospital beds to treat all those infected and where some patients get treatment while others go without. Medical professionals are having to make these dreadful choices every day. We don’t want to put anyone in our community into that terrible situation. Moreover, those who get COVID-19 are isolated from their family and loved ones and cannot have them close to them.

We are asking everyone to continue to stay away from our residential homes to give our residents the best possible chance of avoiding Coronavirus.

Likewise, please maintain your distance from our Home Care consumers and our ILU tenants – and if you are helping with shopping or pharmacy deliveries, please follow the guidelines and avoid physical contact.

Please don’t put your loved one or anyone else’s loved one at any unnecessary risk. 

Special Circumstances – End of Life Care (Residential homes)

We have made provisions for anyone whose loved one enters end-of-life care at any of our aged care homes. Our staff will contact family members to make arrangements for them to spend time with their loved one. We have emailed all families to let them know about these arrangements.

We now also have strict protocols for UNAVOIDABLE visits: the protocols relate to appointments, ‘concierging’ of visits, limited duration, physical distancing, hand-washing and specific locations, in addition to the government-established health-related access conditions. Temperatures will be taken on arrival and ID and contact details requested to enable us to comply with the stringent legal requirements imposed. Family members have been updated on these requirements

Please bear in mind that every person who enters any of our aged care homes adds an unknown risk to everyone here.

‘Keep In Touch’ at Vasey RSL Care: Connecting with Your Loved Ones

As days turn into weeks, separation is increasingly difficult for people isolated from their loved ones.

While making it a priority to keep up with frequent changes in state and federal directives, we have also been working on ways for our aged care residents and their loved ones to communicate. These include:

‘Keep In touch’ at Vasey RSL Care

At each of our residential homes, we have a number of ‘tablets’ (eg iPads) which are being set up for residents to use for video calls to family. To make this available to as many residents as possible, family members can book a 10 minute call during the times 10am to 12 noon and 1 to 3pm Monday to Friday – which is when we have more staff available to assist.

Starting on Monday 30 March, book a call by emailing our new ‘Keep In Touch’ email address for your loved one’s home. Please ensure you indicate your time and date preference in your email.

Brighton              keepintouchbrighton@vaseyrslcare.org.au

Brighton East     keepintouchbe@vaseyrslcare.org.au

Bundoora            keepintouchbundoora@vaseyrslcare.org.au

Frankston S.       keepintouchfs@vaseyrslcare.org.au

Ivanhoe                keepintouchivanhoe@vaseyrslcare.org.au

If you don’t have email, please call the relevant Lifestyle Coordinator to arrange your video call.

Note that our preferred video conferencing app/software is Zoom. This is a free app available for smart phones/tablets. If you are not able to use it, please let us know what you are able to use and we will try to accommodate your preference.

Does your loved one have your a mobile phone, tablet or computer?

If your loved one already has a smart phone, or computer tablet (like an iPad) or a computer but you is not currently able to make a video call, a staff member can assist them to set it up. A letter has been delivered to all residents to provide details.

Providing New Devices for your Loved Ones

You may wish to provide a smart phone, tablet or computer for your loved one. Note that residents will not be able to use our Wi-Fi system: many of our GPs and other clinical practitioners have moved to online services and the Wi-Fi system is already taking a greater load than previously and is close to capacity. Therefore you will need to provide a phone or tablet with its own sim card and phone plan, or a PC with an Internet dongle.

Contact us to arrange a time to drop the equipment off at the relevant home between. It must be between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday (when we have more staff on duty): make sure it is clearly labelled with the name of the resident. We will contact you as soon as your loved one is up and running with their new device.

‘Window Visits’

You may have seen on our Facebook page that one of our residents received a ‘window visit’ from his daughter. This is something that we can facilitate for you – and of course, not everyone has a conveniently-situated ground-floor window, so we are identifying suitable locations where the resident can sit and the family member can see them through the window, while speaking to them on the phone.

While we understand that all these options are not the same as a normal visit, they will at least enable you to see and hear one other.

‘Pen Pals!’

Despite being in the digital age, pens and paper do still exist! So why not write an old-fashioned letter to your loved one? Indeed, this is something very familiar to our residents who grew up in a time when this was the main way to keep in touch – especially if the person was a long way away – phone calls were expensive!

And what a good activity for great grandchildren who are at home and looking for something to do! The younger ones might like to do a drawing or painting, while the older ones can learn about how their grandparents would have kept in touch.

You can either put your letters into the post, or you can drop them off in a special box outside reception. Our staff will put them into quarantine for 24 hours and deliver them to your loved one. (Note: testing has shown that no traces of the Coronavirus existed on paper after 24 hours.)

Home Care and ILU Tenants

If you have a loved one receiving our Home Care service or living at our ILU ex-service accommodation, please think about how you can be in touch with them without risking their health. Online communications, window visits and old-fashioned correspondence are all equally good options for these members of our community.

Lifestyle and Leisure Program (Residential homes)

Our lifestyle team is continuing to provide as varied a program of activities as possible under the circumstances. They are currently investigating a range of online services that provide virtual tours of famous places, virtual museum visits, online concerts and other engaging activities for residents. A weekly program of ‘online events’ is in the pipeline!

Thank you – your ongoing understanding, support and cooperation are sincerely appreciated.

Stay safe and look after yourself and your loved ones.

Janna Voloshin, CEO