Author: Belinda Howell

20 May 2022

We have had a small number of residents at Whiddon Redhead (in Keppel House) test positive to COVID-19. We have activated our COVID-19 outbreak management plan to ensure that all necessary precautions are in place. Please be assured that if your loved one tests positive to COVID-19, you would be contacted directly.

The local Public Health Unit have advised that for now, residents in Keppel House are required to isolate in their rooms, as a precaution. We have restricted visitation in Keppel House to allow for one visitor per resident at this time (for compassionate or essential visits). These visits must be pre-booked. Visitors will be required to wear an N95 mask, gown, gloves and a face shield, which will be supplied. This does not impact visitation at John Read House.

We do ask for your patience at this time when contacting us and booking in visits.

We understand that this is a challenging time for everyone, but 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 early next week.

We thank you for your understanding and support.

20 May 2022

We have had an employee test positive to COVID-19 today.  This employee had minimal contact with residents over the last few days, and was wearing PPE, and as such, the risk is considered low. We have contacted visitors who may have come into contact with the employee, by phone, to advise them to monitor for symptoms.

As this is considered low risk, there are no changes to visitation, resident activities or outings, unless there are any changes to the situation.

We will provide a further update on Monday if there are any changes.

20 May 2022

Further to our last update, we have not had any additional residents test positive to COVID-19. This is welcome news.

Pleasingly, the local Public Health Unit has advised that as of today, residents in the Rose and Garden wings are now able to leave their rooms and enjoy the facilities in the vicinity of their wings. Further testing of these residents will be conducted on 24 May and pending the results, we expect residents will no longer be required to isolate to their wing areas as of later next week.

For now, visitation remains limited to one visitor per resident at this time (for compassionate or essential visits). These visits must be pre-booked. All visitors are required to undertake rapid antigen testing as a condition of entry to Whiddon Wee Waa and will be asked to wear an N95 mask and face shield, which will be provided upon entry to the home.

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

20 May 2022

We wanted to provide you with an update on Whiddon Largs. Firstly, we would like to thank our families for your understanding and patience at this time.

We have been working closely with the local Public Health Unit and following their advice and directives in response to the COVID-19 outbreak at Whiddon Largs.

At their advice, we are continuing regular COVID-19 testing of residents, including today, and next Monday and Thursday. If your loved one tests positive to COVID-19, please be assured that you will be contacted directly by the Registered Nurse on duty. We have also conducted testing of Whiddon Largs employees.

As mentioned previously, as per the advice of the local Public Health Unit, residents are isolating in their rooms for now.

We are inviting families to nominate one representative as a partner-in-care to visit their loved one at this time. This is an important way that residents can stay connected to their family. You can book these visits between 8am and 3.30pm on weekdays. Partners-in care will need to wear full PPE and complete a rapid antigen test as a condition of entry, and be escorted to the resident’s balcony for the visit.

Please be advised that Australian Defence Force personnel will be attending Whiddon Largs from Monday 23 May to provide support to our team. They recently supported our Easton Park care homes and we are appreciative of this extra support. There will also be additional staffing support from the Public Health Unit.

Once again, we thank you for your support and understanding. We will provide a further update to you early next week.

20 May 2022

We wanted to provide you with an update on our Whiddon Grafton care home. This week, we have had four residents test positive to COVID-19 and we activated our COVID-19 outbreak management plan to ensure all precautionary measures are in place. As per the advice of the local Public Health Unit, we are conducting regular COVID-19 testing of residents as a precaution.

For now,  visitation remain restricted to one visitor per resident at this time (for compassionate or essential visits only). These visits must be pre-booked. 

All visitors are required to undertake rapid antigen testing as a condition of entry to Whiddon Grafton and will be asked to wear an N95 mask and face shield, which will be provided upon entry to the home.

We continue to work closely with the local Public Health Unit and are following their advice.

We want to thank you for your understanding and patience during this time, and we will provide a further update early next week.

18 May 2022

We are pleased to advise that we have received the results from the PCR testing of residents at Whiddon Wee Waa. All tests have returned negative results, which is very welcome news.

Visitation is still limited to one visitor per resident at this time (for compassionate or essential visits only). These visits must be pre-booked.

All visitors are required to undertake rapid antigen testing as a condition of entry to Whiddon Wee Waa and will be asked to wear an N95 mask and face shield, which will be provided upon entry to the home.

We continue to work closely with the local Public Health Unit and are following their advice.

We thank you for your ongoing understanding and support.

18 May 2022

Firstly, we wanted to thank you for your support over what has been a challenging period due to COVID-19. The increase in community transmission of COVID-19 has placed additional pressure on our teams, who are working incredibly hard to keep everyone in our family safe.

Unfortunately, we’ve recently seen a number of visitors show aggression towards our employees. We do understand this is a very difficult time for everyone, and with rapid antigen testing in place and the requirement for visitors to wear additional PPE, there are extra steps that we are asking you to take when you visit.

These steps add an important layer of protection at this time and do help to keep your loved ones, our employees, and visitors, safe. We know this is a big ask, but it is very important, along with other precautionary measures such as pre-booking your visit to ensure we only have a certain number of visitors at any one time, and wearing a mask.

We do ask for your patience and thank you for your cooperation.

The Whiddon Moree team

18 May 2022

We are pleased to advise that we have received the results from the PCR testing of residents at Whiddon Wee Waa. All tests have returned negative results, which is very welcome news.

Please be reminded that for now, visitation is still limited to one visitor per resident at this time (for compassionate or essential visits only). These visits must be pre-booked. 

All visitors are required to undertake rapid antigen testing as a condition of entry to Whiddon Wee Waa and will be asked to wear an N95 mask and face shield, which will be provided upon entry to the home.

We continue to work closely with the local Public Health Unit and are following their advice.

We thank you for your understanding and support and will provide a further update later in the week.

16 May 2022

Further to our last update, our COVID-19 outbreak management plan remains in place to ensure that all necessary precautionary measures are implemented. We have had one further resident who has tested positive. All residents are doing well.

Pleasingly, we have not had any further employees test positive to COVID-19.

As per the advice of the local Public Health Unit, we continue to undertake ongoing COVID-19 testing of residents. We are awaiting the test results from last week and further testing has been completed today.

Please be reminded that we have restricted visitation to one visitor per resident at this time (for compassionate or essential visits only). These visits must be pre-booked. 

Employees must continue to wear full PPE (N95 masks, face shields, gown and gloves), complete a rapid antigen test, and social distancing must be observed at all times.

All visitors are required to undertake rapid antigen testing as a condition of entry to Whiddon Wee Waa and will be asked to wear an N95 mask and face shield, which will be provided upon entry to the home.

We continue to work closely with the local Public Health Unit and following their advice. We understand that this is a challenging time for everyone, but 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 thank you for your understanding and support and will provide a further update later in the week.

16 May 2022

We have had two residents at Whiddon Bourke test positive to COVID-19 via rapid antigen testing. We have activated our COVID-19 outbreak management plan to ensure that all necessary precautions are in place.

Residents are isolating in their room for now as a precaution and we will be working closely with the local Public Health Unit. We have restricted visitation to allow for one visitor per resident at this time (for compassionate or essential visits only). These visits must be pre-booked.

Employees must continue to wear full PPE (N95 masks, face shields, gown and gloves), complete a rapid antigen test, and social distancing must be observed at all times.

Visitors will be required to wear an N95 mask and face shield. Residents are also strongly encouraged not to leave the care home at this time, as a precaution.

We understand that this is a challenging time for everyone, but 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 later in the week.

We thank you for your understanding and support.