2 June 2020

Dear Residents, Families and Friends,

Our Doutta Galla staff and management have been working hard over the past few weeks to enable more families to have face to face visits with their loved ones. This has been positive for everyone and I’m sure we all look forward to life getting back to normal in the near future. At this time, the Victorian Government has extended the state of emergency until 21 June 2020. Although there is some easing of restrictions in the general community, there have been no changes to visitation access for people visiting aged care homes in Victoria.

Each of our homes has allocated set times during the day when visits can occur, and we have additional staff during visiting hours to help facilitate these connections. As advised and in order to ensure no one is disappointed, you still need to book visits with reception at each of the homes prior to visiting. We ask that you respect visiting hours and the time you have allocated for a visit, as this means more of our families can visit loved ones.

As the Victorian Chief Health Officer has reminded us, COVID 19 is still a threat to all of us. It is essential that we continue to monitor and limit the number of people in our aged care homes at any given time and ensure all visitors meet our screening and entry protocols.

You are welcome to send any questions, comments or concerns related to COVID-19 to a specific email address, covid19questions@dgas.org.au. Of course the normal means of contact for any questions or concerns via the home where you or your loved one lives is available.

I would like to thank you for your cooperation in enabling us to facilitate fair visitation for all and for your support during this challenging time.

Yours sincerely,

Vanda Iaconese
CEO