19 July 2020 

Dear Residents, Families and Friends, 

I am writing to provide you with an update from Footscray Aged Care Home. 

All residents are resting comfortably in their rooms and reports from the Home are that they remain well and in good spirits. We continue to monitor every resident very closely and at this time, there are no residents displaying symptoms of COVID-19. 

The resident transferred to hospital yesterday is currently stable and our thoughts are with them and their family. We will continue to advocate for the transfer to hospital of any resident who has tested positive to COVID-19. 

As we informed you yesterday, we have additional staff at the Home to manage the high level of infection control and to ensure residents receive the extra care and support they need. There was a deep clean of the home completed last night and there is another deep clean scheduled for Tuesday. Additional cleaning staff have been deployed on each shift and we have extended the cleaning protocols throughout the Home. Staff will continue to wear full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when attending to residents. 

We have been successful today in getting tentative agreement for further testing to occur on Tuesday 21 July at 10.00am. Although there are still test results pending, all residents and staff will be tested again. We will advise of the results as soon as they are available. 

You are welcome to contact Elder Rights Advocacy on 1800 171 866 for COVID-19 information and support. We are also working with Elder Rights Advocacy to provide emotional support for our residents. This is in addition to the support already provided by staff. Our staff have been briefed and are committed to the ongoing care and support of our residents. 

We will advise you immediately of any changes to your family member’s health status, however if you have an enquiry or concern about your family member, please call the Footscray home on 9687 6744 or on a new extra number which is 8580 2447. The email address for written questions or concerns is covid19questions@dgas.org.au. 

We will keep in touch on a regular basis to inform you of any changes to the situation. 

Yours sincerely, 

Vanda Iaconese
CEO