Disgusting treatment of our elderly!
Posted by Sim Parisella
Who wants to hear a REAL Covid story?
On 27 July, my 87 year old Nonna, Francesca, a resident at an #agedcare facility in Sunshine North tested “positive” for Covid 19.
This was after one of the other residents in the facility had passed away and Covid was “detected” at the time of death. The facility had previously notified families on the 25th that a staff member had tested positive, but told them not to worry as the staff member was not working at the time. They tested the residents and threw them into isolation, without notifying their families. My Nonna called my mum crying, saying they were throwing all her things into bags and taking her out of her room and she didn’t know why. The daughter of the man who passed away sent an email notifying the other families about her father. My mum had to call the facility to find out what was going on. It took them two days to answer the phone and give us an answer.
This here only skims the surface of the absolute neglect and abuse the residents in this hell hole have suffered.
For 5 weeks my Nonna and the other “positive” residents haven’t had a shower or a bath, they haven’t even been outside of their rooms let alone outdoors! They have been left in their beds to rot in their pi*s and sh*t. My Nonna was left for 3 days in a soiled nappy with urine dripping on to the carpet, and in the same dirty clothes. My Nonna has organised pneumonia and my family had to threaten the facility with taking them to the media, in order to get her antibiotics and access to a doctor! A staff member yelled abuse at my Nonna because my mum got upset at the staff member for not allowing her to drop off food and clean clothes for my Nonna, after they lost all her clothes! My Nonna lost 4kg over this period.
A 92 year old man was left to starve for 4 days because the DHHS, who replaced the original staff, refused to help him eat because they said they can’t handle the Covid residents. One of the female residents who died, was left with a dislocated shoulder and the facility has denied any knowledge of how it happened.
These people aren’t dying of Covid! They are dying of outright neglect! Of dehydration, malnutrition, lack of provision of essential medical care and depression. My Nonna still hasn’t had a single symptom of Covid, neither have any of the other residents that we know of. And as for the 5 residents who have passed away, neither of their families believe they died of Covid, they believe the facility and the DHHS are responsible for their deaths.
Last week (5 weeks after her positive test) we had my Nonna tested again for Covid. Her result came back as not detected. On Tuesday 1st September, we took her out of that shit hole and she is home. When my mum informed the facility that we were taking her, they said that we needed to phone DHHS (despite them being in the facility) and get clearance to be able to remove her. My mum phoned DHHS, gave them my Nonna’s name and their response was that they had no individual of that name having Covid on their system and that we don’t need clearance to remove her as that is not even a policy.
Another aged care facility in Delehay….One of their residents was found with ANTS in her bed sores. When Covid broke out at this facility at the beginning of stage 4, all of their staff were ordered into isolation. They had TWO staff looking after over 100 residents! The Ukrainian community asked the Victorian government, DHHS and even the ADF for help. They were turned away. They ended up having to put out a call out on Facebook for volunteers from the public to go in and help. DHHS has since finally taken over. Over 44 residents have died in that facility… listed as Covid.
Ask yourselves, where are our resources, when the most vulnerable members of the community, are the most hard hit by this “virus”. Because our resources aren’t in the aged care facilities protecting the vulnerable, that’s for sure! They never were from the begging, and they still aren’t. They’re out in parks and public spaces, dressed like the gestapo, issuing fines to people not wearing masks and complying, whilst saying “It’s for your safety”.