Year: 2022

4 March 2022

We wanted to advise you that due to Moree Plains Council undertaking works, there will be a road closure on Victoria Terrace from 6am to 4pm this Saturday 5 March and Sunday 6 March. Please note entrance to Whiddon Moree will be through Edward Street only during this period.

7 March 2022

Dear Whiddon Bourke, Wee Waa and Narrabri residents and families,

I wanted to write to you with an update on our Whiddon Walgett service. Last year, I wrote to the Walgett community in regards to the decline in demand for our aged care services in Walgett, that we have experienced in recent years. In doing so, we were seeking support from the community, and a better understanding of the aged care services needs in the local community.

For many years, Whiddon has heavily subsidised Whiddon Walgett, which is now costing Whiddon around a quarter of a million dollars annually, to keep the doors open. For a significant time now, we have experienced a decline in admissions to Whiddon Walgett, which is further compounded by the presence of a Multi-Purpose Service (MPS) in the area.

Despite our very best efforts and commitment to finding ways to continue to offer our services to the local community, the decline for our services remains. This means that after a decade of providing care to the Walgett community, it was with very heavy hearts, that we made the incredibly difficult decision to close the doors to Whiddon Walgett.

Our priority now is to do everything that we can to support our residents, families and employees at Whiddon Walgett at this challenging time. However, we want to reassure you that this decision does not impact any of our care homes or services in Bourke, Narrabri and Wee Waa. There are no plans to close these services, and in fact, we are excited to soon undertake a range of upgrades at some of these services.

We also want to reassure you that Whiddon is passionate about ensuring that older people in regional, rural and remote Australia have access to quality aged care services, so they can stay living in the communities they know and love. While we are very sad to see our care home in Walgett close, we do hope to be able to continue to support the wonderful community of Whiddon Walgett in some way in the future.

Yours Sincerely,

Chris Mamarelis
Whiddon CEO

3 March 2022

Dear Whiddon Walgett residents and families,

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who was able to attend yesterday’s meeting. Due to the severe weather events we have experienced, it is with great regret that our Deputy CEO, Alyson Jarrett, and myself, could not be there in person to host this meeting.

For those who were unable to attend, Alyson and I did have the opportunity to meet with residents, families, Sally Renshaw (Whiddon’s Regional General Manager- Residential West) and the Walgett team, via Zoom, to provide an update on our services at Walgett. This letter provides a summary of the update provided at the meeting.

You may recall that I wrote to residents, families and the Walgett community last year, in regards to the decline in demand for our aged care services in Walgett, that we have seen in recent years. In doing so, we asked for support from the community, and a better understanding of the aged care services needs in the local community.

As you may know, for many years, Whiddon has heavily subsidised Whiddon Walgett, which is now costing Whiddon around a quarter of a million dollars annually, for us to keep the doors open. For a significant time now, we have experienced a decline in admissions to Whiddon Walgett, which is further compounded by the presence of a MultiPurpose Service (MPS) in the area.

Despite our very best efforts and commitment to finding ways to continue to offer our services to the local community, the decline for our services remains. This means that after a decade of providing care to the Walgett community, it was with very heavy hearts, that we have made the incredibly difficult decision to close the doors to Whiddon Walgett.

We understand that this is very difficult news to digest. Our priority now is to do everything that we can to support our residents, families and employees at this challenging time. We want to reassure you that we will take all steps possible to assist and support you wherever we can, and will be speaking with everyone individually to achieve this. We also want you to know that there are pathways for you to provide feedback or raise a concern. These include:

• Whiddon: haveyoursay@whiddon.com.au or Executive Administration, 81 Belmont Road, Glenfield, NSW 2167, T 02 9827 6683
• Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN): OPAN is a national network that supports older people and their representatives to address issues related to Commonwealth funded aged care services. T 1800 700 600
• Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission: A free and confidential service for anyone to raise a complaint about Australian Government subsidised aged care. T 1800 951 822

Please know that Whiddon Walgett will always hold a very special place in our hearts at Whiddon. As such, we think it is fitting that the property and building remain a valuable community asset and we are currently in discussions to try and bring this wish to fruition. It truly has been our privilege to be part of your life, and your community and we are incredibly proud of the tremendous team at Whiddon Walgett.

If you would like to discuss the contents of this letter, or the meeting, please contact Sally Renshaw on 0436 659 935.

In closing, cannot thank you enough for the love, support and understanding you have shown us. We do hope that we can continue to provide support to your community in some way in the future.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Mamarelis 
Whiddon CEO

A copy of this letter can accessed by clicking here.

28 February 2022

We wanted to provide an update to Whiddon families in relation to our care homes located in the Northern Rivers region in NSW, and in Beaudesert in SE QLD, in light of the serious flooding events that have occurred in, or close to, these regions.

We want to reassure you that our care homes in Kyogle, Casino, Maclean, Grafton and Beaudesert have not been directly impacted by floodwaters and our residents and employees are doing well.

Our phones may be impacted across our care homes in the Northern Rivers region due to the situation. We do ask for your patience at this time. If you do require to contact our care homes in these areas urgently, please contact our 1300 738 388 line.

Our thoughts are with those impacted by flooding at this time.

28 February 2022

We invite you to attend a meeting and afternoon tea with Whiddon’s CEO, Chris Mamarelis, and Deputy CEO, Alyson Jarrett, this Wednesday 2 March at 2.30pm at Whiddon Walgett.

The meeting will be in relation to an update on our services at Whiddon Walgett.

Thank you and we hope to see you there.

The Whiddon Walgett team

24 February 2022

Please note that the planned booster clinics for Whiddon Easton Park have changed. The clinics booked for tomorrow 25 February and Thursday 3 March, have been rescheduled.

The rescheduled clinics at Whiddon Easton Park will be held on the following dates:

• Wednesday 2 March from 10am to 2pm
• Wednesday 9 March from 9am to 1pm

Please note that if you had booked in for tomorrow’s clinic, your booking has been cancelled.

For Support Services employees, please note that you are invited and encouraged to attend a clinic on either 2 March or 9 March.

Please book via the following link:

URL: https://portal.companymedicalservices.com.au/onsiteregistration/whiddon

Referral code: whid123

23 February 2022

We want to advise you of an important update regarding COVID-19 guidelines and visitation at Whiddon Easton Park.

In our last update, we advised that our employees are no longer required to wear eye protection, however they will continue to wear N95 masks as a precaution. From time to time, employees may be required to wear Eye Protection and other PPE based on the situation and the risk that it poses to employees and residents.

We have received advice from the local Public Health Unit that the requirement for Rapid Antigen Testing has moved to second-daily for staff.  This means that staff should test on their first day back at work after days off and then on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

There is now no requirement to use the NSW QR Code to check in, however the requirement to use the Whiddon QR Code will remain in place.

For the moment, we will continue to have one visitor, per resident per day, however in exceptional circumstances this can be reviewed by the DCS.

We also ask that you practice social distancing and good hand hygiene at all times when visiting on site. Employees that are close contacts must continue to use separate meal rooms and must not remove their mask in the presence of residents or other staff.

We thank you for your ongoing support, efforts and understanding.

Warm Regards,

Whiddon Easton Park Management

23 February 2022

It has been great to welcome you back to Whiddon Beaudesert Star. In pleasing news, we are now in the position to further relax visitation to Whiddon Beaudesert Star. This means that we are able to now welcome visitors aged under 12.

As a reminder, bookings for visits are essential on 07 5542 4700. 

Please note the current visitation guidelines below:

• All visits must be pre-booked
• Where possible, outdoor visits will be encouraged
• Visits cannot not take place in communal areas
• All visitors must wear an N95 mask – this will be provided to visitors
• Visitors may be asked to complete a rapid antigen test as a condition of entry
• Visitors will be escorted to and from the resident’s room

Please ensure that you:

• Refrain from visiting if you are unwell or have been diagnosed with COVID-19
• Refrain from visiting if you have returned from overseas in the last 14 days (excluding safe travel zone countries) unless an exemption has been granted
• Refrain from visiting if you are in home quarantine, unless an exemption has been granted
• Refrain from visiting if you are a close or secondary contact of a person with COVID-19 in the last 14 days, unless their quarantine period has ended
• Refrain from visiting if you have had a COVID-19 PCR test and are awaiting for the result (except for tests due to surveillance testing obligations)
• Refrain from visiting if you have any COVID-19 symptoms of fever (37.5 degrees or more), cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, loss of smell or taste, runny nose, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting or fatigue
• Practice good hand hygiene and socially distance
• Please check in to Whiddon’s check-in system and the Check In Queensland app

We thank you for your support and understanding.

23 February 2022

We want to advise you of an important update regarding COVID-19 guidelines and visitation at Whiddon Easton Park.

In our last update, we advised you that our employees are no longer required to wear eye protection, but will continue to wear N95 masks, as a precaution. From time to time, you may see our employees wearing additional personal protective equipment (PPE), when there is a potential COVID-19 risk.

We have received advice from the local Public Health Unit that the requirement for rapid antigen testing has moved to every second day for employees.

For visitors, our current visitation requirements will still apply in regards to PPE. That is, all visitors will need to wear a N95 mask at all times when visiting, however there are times when you may be asked to wear eye protection, based on the situation at that time. We also ask that visitors continue to conduct rapid antigen testing each time they visit.

There is now no requirement to use the NSW QR Code to check in, however the requirement to use the Whiddon QR Code will remain in place.

For the moment, residents are able to have one visitor per resident per day, however in exceptional circumstances please discuss this with The Care Manager.

When you visit, we ask that you practice social distancing and good hand hygiene. Please do not meet in any common areas and refrain from visiting if you have any symptoms of COVID-19.

We thank you for your ongoing support and understanding as we know it has been a challenging time.

21 February 2022

We are pleased to confirm that we are now in the position to welcome back visitors to Whiddon Kyogle.

Visits must be pre-booked through our administration team. We will be asking visitors to wear an N95 mask and complete a rapid antigen test when visiting. Please note that we are also encouraging visitors to get their booster vaccine if they are eligible to do so.

As our visitor restrictions are relaxed, we do ask that you follow our visitation guidelines below, to help keep everyone in our family safe.

Please find the current visitation guidelines below:

• Residents are permitted to have one fully vaccinated visitor aged 12 years and over, per day
• Visitors must have received a second dose of a COVID vaccination at least 14 days prior to their visit
• Visits must not take place in communal areas and must take place in residents’ rooms or a designated area
• All visitors must wear a N95 mask when visiting
• Visitors will be asked to complete a rapid antigen test as a condition of entry
• Unvaccinated visitors are only permitted to visit a resident who is at the end of life. Please speak to your loved one’s Care Manager directly to gain the necessary approval to visit

Please ensure that you:

• pre-book your visits. Please note that the number of visitors allowed at any one time may be restricted to enable management of capacity limits refrain from visiting if you have COVID-19 symptoms
• refrain from visiting if you are a close or casual contact of a person with confirmed COVID-19, unless they have completed their isolation and testing requirements. Close contacts should not enter high risk settings for at least 14 days since their exposure to a COVID-positive person
  do not visit if you have been overseas in the previous 14 days, unless you are fully vaccinated and have received a negative PCR test 7 days or later after arrival in NSW
• refrain from visiting if you are waiting for a COVID-19 test result
• practice good hand hygiene and socially distance
• check in to the Service NSW app AND Whiddon’s check-in system when you visit

We thank you for your continued support and look forward to seeing you soon.