Year: 2022

21 July 2022

We wanted to let you know that we are currently dealing with an exposure to COVID-19 after a resident tested positive shortly after attending an outing over the weekend. The family of this resident have been notified. Pleasingly, no other residents or employees have tested positive and we will be conducting further PCR testings to monitor residents who may have been in contact during the time of infection.

Currently, there are no changes to visitation however, we do want to remind you that COVID is very much in our communities, and to please refrain from visiting if unwell.

Please also ensure your visits must be pre-booked and the following applies:

• Whiddon strongly recommend all relevant vaccinations of both COVID-19 and influenza for all visitors.
• Non-vaccinated visitors are able to visit their loved ones in an outdoor area wearing N95 masks and face shields. Non-vaccinated visitors should not enter a home unless approval is given by the DCS/DDCS Team based on individual circumstances e.g. end of life, compassionate visits, resident wellbeing.
• Visitors must wear an N95 mask, face shield and complete a rapid antigen test as a condition of entry
• Up to 2 children under 12 years are permitted to visit provided they are accompanied by a fully vaccinated person
• Wherever possible, the visit should be in resident’s room or in an outdoor area. Visits should not be in any inside communal areas
• Visitors must check-in through our visitor check-in system
• Visitors must not visit if they have COVID-19 symptoms, have been exposed to COVID-19 (unless they have completed their self-isolation and testing requirements). People who have had high risk exposures should not enter high risk settings for at least 14 days since their exposure to a COVID-positive person
• Visitors must not visit if they are waiting for a COVID-19 test result, feel unwell or have been overseas in the previous 14 days, unless they are: fully vaccinated, it has been at least 7 days after arrival and they have received a negative antigen test 6 days or later after arriving in NSW

We will provide a further update if anything changes.

20 July 2022

Whiddon Beaudesert Star families are invited to attend the next consumer and representative meeting on Thursday, 21 July at 10.30am. This session is a great opportunity to:

• address any concerns you may have
• give you valuable updates on what is happening in our care home
• meet new members of our team

The meeting will be held in the Jasmine lounge area. We ask that you please advise us if you wish to attend the meeting as there are capacity limits in this area, in line with COVID-19 guidelines.

You can also find our next session dates below:

• 18th August
• 15th September
• 20th October
• 17th November
• 15th December

The NSW State Government has recently updated their guidelines around COVID-19 and Influenza procedures for Residential Aged Care.

As always, your safety and wellbeing is our highest priority, and we have updated our visitation and vaccination requirements as summarised below. Please note, this does not apply if our care home is in an outbreak.

1. Visitors

• Residents are welcome to have 2 adults and 2 children visit them each day – approval for additional visitors may be provided in special circumstances with approval from each Home’s  Management
• Visitors are still required to complete a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) prior to entering our Homes and wear PPE as advised by staff
• For everyone’s safety, visits should occur in resident rooms instead of in common areas

2. Vaccinations 

• We strongly recommend all relevant vaccinations for both COVID-19 and Influenza for all visitors
• Non-vaccinated visitors are able to visit their loved ones in our Homes, only with the prior approval of the Homes’ management, and these visits must occur in an outdoor area wearing N95 masks and face shields
• In the event that a non-vaccinated visitor cannot complete their visit in an outdoor setting, the visit should occur in resident rooms with N95 masks and face shields worn at all times. This requires approval from the Home’s Management.

Thank you for your continued understanding as we all strive to keep our residents and staff safe.

The Whiddon Team

19 July 2022

Since our last update, we have had five residents test positive to COVID overnight in our Temora Greenstone care home. Families of the residents who have tested positive have been notified.

We are also conducting final Rapid Antigen Tests of residents in Temora Nurraburra, and hope to have an update to you later this week about the outcome of these results.

We are currently working with the Public Health Unit across both care homes to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our residents and staff.

For now, visitation is limited to one nominated partner-in-care across both sites. Partners-in-care must book their visits prior to visiting our care home. All visitors are required to complete a rapid antigen test as a condition of entry, wear an N95 mask and may be asked to wear additional PPE at this time such as a face shield. Please refrain from visiting if you are unwell.

19 July 2022

Since our last update, we have now had residents test positive to COVID in Keppel House and further PCR testing is being conducted today.

Visitation is now limited to one nominated partner-in-care across all Whiddon Redherad. Partners-in-care must book their visits prior to visiting our care home. All visitors are required to complete a rapid antigen test as a condition of entry, wear an N95 mask and may be asked to wear additional PPE at this time, such as a face shield. Please refrain from visiting if you are unwell.

Our employees also continue to be monitored daily by conducting a Rapid Antigen Testing prior to the start of their shift.

We thank you for your patience and assistance during this time and will provide a further update if anything changes.

18 July 2022 

We wanted to provide you with an update. It is very pleasing to report that we have not had any further cases for both residents and employees over the past week,and many of our residents have completed their isolation.

However, we are erring on the side of caution and maintaining some restrictions for the time being.

Residents in Federation remain in isolation. Residents from Perry James and Nan Crane are now able to leave their area.

We are recommending that if anyone goes to public areas that they wear a mask as there is still a lot of infection within the general community.

We want to also remind you that all visits must be pre-booked. All visitors are required to complete a rapid antigen test as a condition of entry and wear an N95 mask.

We will provide a further update if anything changes.

19 July 2022

Since our last update we are pleased to advise that we’ve had no positive cases from residents or employees.

We do want to remind you to ensure your visits must are pre-booked and the following applies:

• Whiddon strongly recommend all relevant vaccinations of both COVID-19 and influenza for all visitors.
• Non-vaccinated visitors are able to visit their loved ones in an outdoor area wearing N95 masks and face shields. Non-vaccinated visitors should not enter a home unless approval is given by the DCS/DDCS Team based on individual circumstances e.g. end of life, compassionate visits, resident wellbeing.
• Visitors must wear an N95 mask, face shield and complete a rapid antigen test as a condition of entry
• Up to 2 children under 12 years are permitted to visit provided they are accompanied by a fully vaccinated person
• Wherever possible, the visit should be in resident’s room or in an outdoor area. Visits should not be in any inside communal areas
• Visitors must check-in through our visitor check-in system
• Visitors must not visit if they have COVID-19 symptoms, have been exposed to COVID-19 (unless they have completed their self-isolation and testing requirements). People who have had high risk exposures should not enter high risk settings for at least 14 days since their exposure to a COVID-positive person
• Visitors must not visit if they are waiting for a COVID-19 test result, feel unwell or have been overseas in the previous 14 days, unless they are: fully vaccinated, it has been at least 7 days after arrival and they have received a negative antigen test 6 days or later after arriving in NSW

We thank you for your patience and assistance during this time.

19 July 2022

We have been working with the local Public Health Unit and are please to share that our COVID outbreak has been declared over at Easton Park Units. Visitations will resume as normal across all our care homes at Whiddon Easton Park.

We do want to remind you to ensure your visits must are pre-booked and the following applies:

• Whiddon strongly recommend all relevant vaccinations of both COVID-19 and influenza for all visitors.
• Non-vaccinated visitors are able to visit their loved ones in an outdoor area wearing N95 masks and face shields. Non-vaccinated visitors should not enter a home unless approval is given by the DCS/DDCS Team based on individual circumstances e.g. end of life, compassionate visits, resident wellbeing.
• Visitors must wear an N95 mask, face shield and complete a rapid antigen test as a condition of entry
• Up to 2 children under 12 years are permitted to visit provided they are accompanied by a fully vaccinated person
• Wherever possible, the visit should be in resident’s room or in an outdoor area. Visits should not be in any inside communal areas
• Visitors must check-in through our visitor check-in system
• Visitors must not visit if they have COVID-19 symptoms, have been exposed to COVID-19 (unless they have completed their self-isolation and testing requirements). People who have had high risk exposures should not enter high risk settings for at least 14 days since their exposure to a COVID-positive person
• Visitors must not visit if they are waiting for a COVID-19 test result, feel unwell or have been overseas in the previous 14 days, unless they are: fully vaccinated, it has been at least 7 days after arrival and they have received a negative antigen test 6 days or later after arriving in NSW

We thank you for your patience and assistance during this time.

As we have all heard in the media, we are seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 as well Influenza cases across the state.

This year it is even more important than ever to stay up-to-date with your vaccinations.

The current advice from Government includes:

• 4th COVID-19 booster – an additional booster (4th dose) is now available to people 30 years and older and is strongly recommended for people over 50 years – find out more & book here
• Annual Flu Jab – with “Flu season” now in full swing, make sure you protect yourself,  our residents and clients with your annual Flu Vaccine – find out more here

Older Australians are at the highest risk from influenza and COVID-9. Our priorities are to keep our residents, clients and employees healthy and vaccines are something we can get to keep us all safe.

We thank you for everything you do and your efforts to protect our people and residents this Winter!

14 July 2022

We have had employees test positive to COVID . We believe the risk is low however, 3 residents have been deemed as close contacts and will be monitored over the next 10 days.

At this stage, there are no changes to visitations. We do want to remind you to ensure your visits must are pre-booked and the following applies:

• Visitors aged 12 years and over must have received a second dose of a COVID vaccination at least 14 days prior to their visit
• Visitors must wear an N95 mask, face shield and complete a rapid antigen test as a condition of entry
• Visitors are strongly encouraged to get a booster vaccine if they are eligible for one
• Up to 2 children under 12 years are permitted to visit provided they are accompanied by a fully vaccinated person
• Wherever possible, the visit should be in resident’s room or in an outdoor area. Visits should not be in any inside communal areas
• Visitors must check-in through our visitor check-in system
• Visitors are strongly encouraged to receive the 2022 seasonal flu vaccine as soon as it is available
• Visitors must not visit if they have COVID-19 symptoms, have been exposed to COVID-19 (unless they have completed their self-isolation and testing requirements). People who have had high risk exposures should not enter high risk settings for at least 14 days since their exposure to a COVID-positive person
• Visitors must not visit if they are waiting for a COVID-19 test result, feel unwell or have been overseas in the previous 14 days, unless they are: fully vaccinated, it has been at least 7 days after arrival and they have received a negative antigen test 6 days or later after arriving in NSW

We thank you for your patience and assistance during this time.