WHARPARILLA Lodge did not wait for Wednesday's stage three restrictions to come into force at midnight, instead going into full lockdown on Monday.
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It means no visitors can enter the 92-bed low residential care facility, part of the Echuca Community for the Aged complex on Mt Terrick Rd.
BUPA Aged Care Echuca, Murrayvale Aged Care and Southern Cross Aged Care in Moama have also said they will not be accepting visitors at this time.
Residents at Glanville Village can have a maximum of one visitor a day for an hour between noon and 6pm.
Echuca Community for the Aged also runs Cunningham Downs, Illoura Village and the Brolga Apartments, providing retirement living, supported accommodation and private home care services to elderly members of the broader Campaspe and Murray shires.
Its chairman, Ian Maddison, is also appealing for politicians and the public to refocus the narrative following the controversy of COVID-19 cluster outbreaks in nursing homes across greater Melbourne.
Mr Maddison described the coverage of the wider aged care industry as “shocking attacks” by people in places of power and the media.
He has turned to Victorian Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh to lead a campaign to change community attitudes.
Mr Maddison said people were not even aware of challenges such as the lack of sufficient provision of personal protective equipment in the facilities being aggressively targeted in Melbourne.
He said there had never been the need for any aged care facilities to have the massive inventory of PPE necessary to satisfy the current huge demand.
“What’s more, there is not the financial capacity in any aged care facility to carry the financial burden required to fund such quantities of PPE that may or may not have been needed until now,” Mr Maddison said.
“And suddenly aged care homes are expected to have huge amounts of funds required to purchase such equipment at their disposal.
“Sure, they can probably secure some funding after the event; however, most are struggling with cash flows just to run day to day.
“Meanwhile our treasured employees are feeling more and more vulnerable, being mercilessly attacked like ducks protecting their young on an exposed lake with a howling wind blowing and waiting for the hunters to come over the ridge with both barrels loaded.
“I and almost every other person with a loved one in their care hope like hell they don’t take the option of taking flight.
“But who could blame them under these merciless unwarranted attacks by individuals looking for notoriety or deflecting blame and the relentless media.
“I acknowledge there have been failures in some facilities and of course they would do it differently and better next time if they had more warning and funding, but it’s far from the majority — and that hasn’t been explained to anyone during this crisis.”
Mr Walsh agreed the perception of what was happening had cast a dark shadow across the aged care industry.
He said the aged care facilities across his electorate, from Nyah in the north to Kyabram in the east, were committed to caring for their clients.
“They have already been working extra hard at keeping those same clients COVID safe in the current pandemic,” Mr Walsh said.
“And we need to thank the management and staff who go about this caring rather than see the reputations of these homes tarnished by what is happening in Melbourne.
“Few people outside those families with a loved one in these facilities, ever really know about the care they give.”
Mr Walsh said COVID-19 was unprecedented, including in the aged care industry.
He said it meant all the experts and others were learning every day of its insidious capabilities — pointing at the policy-making on the run in Victoria and other states to try to get ahead of it.
“The aged care industry has been crying out for more funding, which would enable facilities to engage more experienced and qualified staff,” Mr Walsh said.
“Would any of what has taken place in Melbourne have happened in a perfect world? Of course not.
“In the real world, where everyone and everything is controlled by budgets and cash flow, the aged care industry is not immune.
“Indeed it is probably the most vulnerable because of the age and frailty of the people in its care and as the numbers of those needing aged care soar with the baby boomer bubble moving through the system, the specialist staff in many of these centres are under immense personal strain.”
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