Thursday August 20, 2020

The situation at Yarraville remains stable.  

Currently;

• There are 22 COVID-19 positive residents being cared for at Yarraville Village. 
• Residents who initially returned a negative COVID-19 test were relocated to various hospitals early last week.  These residents remain in hospital until we can welcome them home.
• Testing continues on a 72-hour basis for staff. Residents no longer require testing. 
• Two residents initially transferred to hospital with a negative diagnosis to COVID-19 have since tested positive, and they have been transferred back to the Home. This decision to return to the Home was made in consultation with the resident, their family, the Home and the hospital. 
• Staffing levels are stable and able to well-manage the situation. There are experienced aged care and nursing staff at the facility, focused on the health and wellbeing of the residents and working around the clock to provide the best possible care. 
• We are pleased to report that Doutta Galla staff are starting to return to work, as they fulfill their quarantine periods and are cleared by health authorities to return. 
• Full catering services are being provided, after a short period of disruption during the first days of the outbreak, and residents are receiving their meals in their rooms. 
• We continue to work collaboratively with both the state and federal aged care and health authorities, and are being supported by Western Health, and AUSMAT.  
• We will continue to advocate for hospital transfers for residents who require additional care.
• With deepest sadness, we advise that since the COVID-19 outbreak began, almost three weeks ago, a total of nine residents have passed away, some of whom were receiving palliative care for other conditions. Four passed away at the facility, and five in hospital.  Their families have been kept fully informed and our hearts and thoughts go out to them.

Background

• The COVID-19 outbreak occurred at our Yarraville Village aged care property 20 days ago. 
• Our emergency response plan was immediately activated, and since then we have been working collaboratively with state and federal aged care authorities and health services, Western Health and AUSMAT. 
• COVID-19 has brought unprecedented disruption and difficulty for our residents, families and staff, particularly in the early days as we had to transition rapidly to replace quarantining staff with experienced external staff. We are grateful to the various authorities for their support as we moved as quickly as we could to protect our residents. 
• Initially 5 residents who tested positive to COVID-19 were transferred to hospital in the first week of August. 17 residents who had tested negative were transferred to hospitals from last Tuesday 11 August, to provide them with optimal protection as well as appropriate care.
• We are in regular contact with all our families, and we will continue to issue regular email updates.
• We are able to facilitate direct contact between families and residents via video conferencing, Skype, FaceTime, phone calls and window visits. 

We would like to thank the many members of our local community in Yarraville, who have been sending beautiful messages of love and support over the past week, including cards from local children, paintings for the home and flowers for residents.  Their concern and consideration have meant the world to our residents and the staff. 

Doutta Galla is planning to return to normal operations as soon as possible, contingent on test results return non-detected outcomes, and a set period of surveillance being passed. This process will be oversighted by health and aged care authorities.   

Vanda Iaconese
Chief Executive Officer

For further information: covid19questions@dgas.org.au