18 June 2021

Dear Residents, Families and Friends,

Pleasingly, the COVID situation in Victoria continues to improve and the State Government has announced easing of COVID restrictions for the community.  However, at this stage we have not received any government advice that allows us to lift the current visitor restrictions.  Visits to residential aged care are permitted in certain circumstances and for ‘end of life’ reasons only.

We understand how difficult this situation is for many of you and we want to do all we can to support and facilitate contact with your loved ones.  We will do this by facilitating video calls and window visits where possible.  Please contact the home to make a time to have a video call or to set up a window visit.

Doutta Galla continues to work with Government sponsored agencies to facilitate the vaccination program at our homes.  All homes have now completed at least two rounds of vaccinations with some homes now receiving additional vaccination sessions for staff and residents now wishing to access the vaccine.

We urge you to follow carefully the COVID safe setting requirements that are published by the State Government which provides up to date information about exposure sites. If you have symptoms regardless of how mild, please get tested.

We encourage you to comply and follow COVID safe practices in the community by entering your details via QR codes when entering buildings, wearing a mask when required, maintaining social distancing, and continuing to practice hand hygiene.  All these measures assist in managing the elimination and spread of the virus in the community.  We also remind those who are eligible that vaccination is one of the steps in helping to stop the spread of the virus.

All of my general communications continue to be available on the Doutta Galla website at https://www.dgas.org.au/coronavirus-updates/ and can be accessed at any time.

If you or your family would like more support during this time, you are welcome to reach out to the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) is an independent, free service to support older people and their family members during COVID-19.  Families can call OPAN on 1800 700 600 if they would like to talk with someone about the COVID-19 situation and its impact, or if worried about a loved one and need to talk to someone.  Elder Rights Advocacy (ERA) is the Victorian OPAN member who will be providing direct individual support to older people and their families and can be contacted through 1800 700 600.

Yours sincerely,

Vanda Iaconese

CEO