Author: Belinda Howell

31 January 2022

Following our last update and COVID-19 testing of Whiddon Beaudesert Star residents late last week, we are pleased to say that we have not had any additional residents test positive to COVID-19. This means that we have contained the outbreak to one area only (Rainbow Upper). However, we are required to undertake Day 6 testing, which will take place this Wednesday. Pending these results, we hope to be in the position to reopen to visitors.

We have had an additional three employees test positive to COVID-19 and they are currently in isolation.

Please note that visits for essential caring on compassionate grounds such as end of life are permitted at this time, with approval. Please discuss this with the Director Care Services.

We understand that this is a challenging time. We want you to know that it is our highest priority to keep everyone in our family safe and well, and we are doing everything we can to achieve this. We also know how important it is that we do everything we can to help keep you connected to your loved one at this time. If you would like to book a video or phone call with your loved one, please contact our team on 07 5542 4700. Our teams are also working hard to provide additional activities for residents at this time.

We thank you for your understanding and support at this time.

31 January 2021

An employee at Whiddon Moree has tested positive to COVID-19 using a rapid antigen test. As a precaution, the local Public Health Unit have advised us to limit visits to Whiddon Moree families until we get the results of COVID-19 testing that will be undertaken by residents and employees. Visitations will be restricted temporarily to essential care and end of life visits.

We are working closely with the local Public Health Unit and following their advice, and have activated our COVID-19 response plan to ensure all necessary precautionary measures are implemented. Our COVID-19 response plan is robust and ensures we prioritise the safety of residents and employees.

Thank you for your understanding and patience at this time.

28 January 2022

We are deeply saddened that a resident at Whiddon Beaudesert Star who had tested positive to COVID-19 has passed away. The resident had serious underlying health conditions. We extend our sincerest condolences to their family at this difficult time.

In regards to the testing undertaken yesterday of all residents at the advice of the local Public Health Unit, we have so far received the test results for residents in the Clayfied, Violet and Fern wings. Pleasingly, all residents in these areas have tested negative to COVID-19. The test results for other areas are still pending. We will provide a further update to you early next week or sooner if we get the tests results back on the weekend.

We thank you for your support at this time.

28 January 2022

Keppel House update

Merewether East (upstairs)

Since our last update to you, a further two residents in Merewether East have tested positive to COVID-19 via rapid antigen testing. We are now awaiting their PCR tests results. Please note that the families of these residents have been notified.

Further testing of residents in Merewether East will take place on Monday and Thursday next week and the local Public Health Unit (PHU) has advised that residents in this area are required to stay in their rooms for now. Following testing on Thursday, the local PHU will provide us with further advice on whether residents may be able to leave their rooms and when visitors may be permitted to this area. If you would like to book a video or phone call with your loved one, please contact our team,

Merewether West (upstairs) and Dudley (all downstairs)

On the advice of the local Public Health Unit, we conducted rapid antigen testing of residents in Merewether West and Dudley. Pleasingly, all tests returned negative results. In welcome news, this means that as of tomorrow, residents will be able to leave their rooms.

In addition, visits to these areas will be allowed from Monday 31 January, however they must be pre-booked. Visiting times will be between 9am and 12pm and 1pm and 4pm on weekdays, with five visitors per hour. Please note that the number of visitors allowed at any one time is restricted to enable management of capacity limits.

While this is very welcome news, we do ask that you follow our visitation guidelines and remain vigilant at this time. With increasing numbers of COVID-19 in our local communities, it is important that we all take steps to help keep everyone safe. Please also note that we are encouraging visitors to get their booster vaccine if they are eligible to do so.

John Read House update

John Read House remains open to visitors, however please note that bookings are required. As a reminder, visits can be booked between 9am and 12pm and 1pm and 4pm on weekdays. Please note that the number of visitors allowed at any one time is restricted to enable management of capacity limits.

Visiting guidelines at this time (applies to John Read House, Dudley wings and Mereweather West wing only)

The following guidelines are in place:

• Residents may have two visitors per day
• All visitors must wear PPE, including an N95 mask and a face shield, which will be provided to visitors
• Only visitors over 12 years old are permitted and all 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 wherever possible, visits should occur in an outdoor area
• 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:

• 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 ongoing support and understanding.

 

28 January 2022

Since our last update, four residents in the Cedar Wing on the ground floor of Whiddon Casino have tested positive to COVID-19 via rapid antigen testing. They are required to isolate and their families have been informed.

Residents on the first floor of Whiddon Casino (Lindwall Wing) are not showing any symptoms of the virus. We are still waiting for advice from the local Public Health Unit as to when residents on this level may be able to leave their rooms. Please note that we will need to ask these residents not to access the ground floor for now as a precaution.

For now, visits can be booked on compassionate grounds or for essential caring. If you wish to request a visit under such grounds, please contact the Director Care Services.

We have had one further employee test positive to COVID-19. This was acquired in the community and is considered low risk to residents.

We do understand that this is a challenging time. Our teams are working hard to keep you connected with your loved ones at this time. If you would like to book in a video or phone call, please talk to our administration team on 02 6661 2300 to book this in.

We will provide a further update to you early next week.

28 January 2022

We are very pleased to advise you that we are now in the position to welcome back visitors to Whiddon Maclean.

While this is very welcome news, we do ask that you follow our visitation guidelines and remain vigilant at this time. With increasing numbers of COVID-19 in our local communities, it is important that we all take steps to help keep everyone safe. Please also note that we are encouraging visitors to get their booster vaccine if they are eligible to do so.

Visits must be pre-booked through our administration team. We also ask visitors to wear an N95 mask and shield at this time as a precautionary measure.

Please see our guidelines for visiting at this time:

• Residents are permitted to have two fully vaccinated visitors aged 12 years and over only, 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
• All visitors must wear a N95 mask and face shield when visiting
• Visitors may 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 understanding and support and we look forward to seeing you soon.

28 January 2022

It has been great to welcome you back to Whiddon Kelso. We wanted to remind you of the visiting hours at this time and the requirement to pre-book visits. Visits must be pre-booked and for now, may take place between 8am and 5pm on weekdays. We hope to open up to weekend visits once we have staff available to supervise the rapid antigen testing.

We also invite you to update your contact details with our team. You can so this by emailing your current phone number and preferred email address to kelso@whiddon.com.au This would be greatly appreciated and will help to ensure that clear communication to all families is maintained.

Please note that we are also encouraging our visitors to get their booster vaccine if they are eligible to do so.

We thank you for your understanding and support at this time.

28 January 2022

We are pleased to advise you that all residents at Whiddon Laurieton are now out of isolation and the outbreak is now considered over. This is welcome news.

This means that we are able to welcome visitors back to all areas of Whiddon Laurieton.

Please note that while we are able to welcome visitors back, we do ask that you follow our guidelines and stay vigilant at this time, as the number of cases of COVID-19 in our local community remains high. Please also note that all visits must be pre-booked.

Please see our guidelines for visiting the Haven and CHAPCA Gardenia areas at this time:

• Residents are permitted to have one fully vaccinated visitors aged 12 years and over only, 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 wherever possible, visits should occur in an outdoor area
• All visitors must wear a N95 mask and face shield 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 understanding and support and look forward to seeing you soon.

27 January 2022

We wanted to provide you with a further update on Whiddon Beaudesert Star. We have now five residents at Whiddon Beaudesert Star who have tested positive to COVID-19 to date. These residents are located in the Upper Rainbow Wing and their families have been notified.

We are working closely with the local Public Health Unit and have implemented our COVID-19 Outbreak Management Plan to ensure all necessary precautionary measures are implemented. This includes residents staying in their rooms for now as a precaution. We are also continuing to restrict visitation at this time on the advice of the local Public Health Unit.

We are undertaking testing of all residents and employees today at the advice of the local Public Health Unit. This testing will be repeated in six days. While we await the initial tests results, we are not booking any window visits at this time. We do hope to resume these soon.

Visits for essential caring on compassionate grounds such as end of life are permitted with approval. Please discuss this with the Director Care Services.

Our teams are working hard to keep residents connected with their loved ones via phone and video calls wherever possible. If you would like to book in a video or phone call, please speak to our administration team on 07 5542 4700.

We understand that this is a challenging time. We want you to know that it is our highest priority to keep everyone in our family safe and well, and we are doing everything we can to achieve this.

We will provide a further update to you once the initial tests results are returned to us.

We thank you for your understanding and support at this time.

25 January 2021

We would like to provide you with a further update on Whiddon Easton Park.

Sir David Martin

Sir David Martin currently has two residents with COVID-19, who remain in isolation on the advice of the local Public Health Unit. Residents located close by are isolating within their areas. This means that they may exit their rooms, however they must stay in close vicinity to where their room is located. These residents have access to a common area and can enjoy interacting with other non-affected residents.

As per the local Public Health Unit’s advice, we will re-test all residents in this area again this coming Saturday. If all results are negative, this area will be out of lockdown on Sunday morning. This is welcome news.

General update

Pleasingly, all other residents at Whiddon Easton Park who have tested positive to COVID-19 are now considered recovered. Employees continue to wear face masks and eye protection as a precaution, however, they are no longer required to wear gowns and gloves in areas where residents are not required to isolate.

Over the past month, we have seen a number of our employees test positive to Covid-19, resulting in the need for them to isolate at home whilst recovering. We have 25 employees that are currently affected by COVID-19 and we have five employees that are due to return to work tomorrow.

Resident vaccination booster rates across the campus are high and we will continue, where appropriate, to facilitate further booster vaccine clinics onsite. We are strongly encouraging our employees and visitors to have their booster dose also, if they are eligible. It is likely that this will become compulsory for employees in the coming weeks.

We will continue to be see some visitor restrictions across Easton Park, which are in line with advice from the local Public Health Unit. We do ask that you follow our visitation guidelines below in the interest of everyone’s safety, and to ensure that our employees can remain focussed on resident care.

Please note the current visitation guidelines:  

• One fully vaccinated visitor, per resident, per day, is permitted
• Visits are to occur between 9am and 12pm and 1pm and 4pm on weekdays (visits outside of these hours will be at the discretion of management and only when there is employee capacity to do so)
• There will be limits to the numbers of visitors who can book in at each time to enable management of capacity limits
• 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 PPE, including an N95 mask and a face shield, this will be provided to visitors (visitors can re-use the face shield provided on their next visit)
• Only visitors over 12 years old are permitted and all visitors must have received a second dose of a COVID vaccination at least 14 days prior to their visit
• Visitors will be asked to complete a rapid antigen test as a condition of entry
• Unvaccinated visitors can only undertake a window visit (which must be pre-booked) and must not enter the home, except when the residents 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:

• 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
• Refrain from visiting 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

With cases of COVID-19 remaining high in our communities, we do ask that you follow these guidelines and remain vigilant.

We thank you for your ongoing understanding and support. We genuinely understand that this has been a challenging time.

We will provide a further update to you next Monday if there are no further changes.