In Echuca, friends and family are unable to visit residents of Bupa Aged Care, Glanville Village and Echuca Community for the Aged unless end-of-life or palliative issues arise.
Echuca Community for the Aged chief executive John Dean said his facility's biggest goal over the next week was to minimise any distress from the loss of visitation.
“We understand how critical that is. We’ll keep our reception open on Saturday and Sunday to triage phone calls,” Mr Dean said.
“And we still have our activities team and pastoral care here; we’d like to keep them active and we’ll get a bit more creative.”
Mr Dean said a comforting fact was most Echuca Community for the Aged residents and some staff had started to receive their vaccinations from Wednesday, May 19, with a second dose due in another week.
Bupa Aged Care general manager Jim Haldane said Thursday had been a busy day for residents, with friends and families fitting in last-minute visits before restrictions came into place.
But Mr Haldane insists technology had become an useful tool during past lockdowns to connect residents with their families.
“We use iPads so residents can still have face-to-face virtual meetings with family,” Mr Haldene said.
“And we ramp up our internal lifestyle program, so we have plenty of activities on the floor for them, so we keep them occupied and entertained over the seven days.”
Mr Haldane said his team would continue to do its best for the facility's residents throughout the lockdown.
“We have conveyed the lockdown message on to the residents (yesterday),” Mr Haldene said.
“Some are a bit anxious having experienced this before, and there are some that are going ‘here we go again’.
“It is quite a critical time for aged care, we know isolation can cause depression, so we need to ramp up our emotional support to them from within the home.
“We understand it’s also a hard time for the families as well as the residents.
“We welcome phone calls and FaceTimes; we’ll accommodate them where we can.”
Across the border, Menarock Life Murrayvale and Southern Cross aged care in Moama won’t be subjected to the same restrictions as their Victorian counterparts, but nevertheless may take their own precautions to protect residents.
