Aged care outbreak ‘taking its toll’ on families
The daughter of an elderly couple who contracted coronavirus at Sydney’s SummitCare aged care facility says more support needs to be offered to families in her situation.
Kathie Melocco told Today she was exhausted by the situation.
“It is really taking its toll – the thing that is incredibly stressful is the lack of support as families we’re all given,” Ms Melocco told Today.
“I have two parents struck down with this virus. I haven’t had any extra support offered to our family at all. You would think with all the mental health advice we’ve been going through during the pandemic, the aged care sector would have that support available.”
Ms Melocco said she was thankful her parents, who are childhood sweethearts, were allowed to isolate together as they recover from the virus, but said she was exhausted and didn’t feel she was getting support from government authorities or the aged care home.
“Let’s hope we get a protocol that if this ever happens again – God forbid – we have a system in place,” she said.
“We get morning and afternoon updates from the aged care home, but up until last night, when I actually spoke up and said, ‘No one’s rung me to ask if there is anything they can do.’
“In terms of government, I mean, I genuinely would like to see BeyondBlue and all of the other mental health agencies swing into action and have a protocol for supporting families.”
Ms Melocco also said she was frustrated she couldn’t see her parents, despite both of them and she fully vaccinated against coronavirus.
“This is the ridiculous thing. It’s such a contradiction. We weren’t allowed into the home. It was under lockdown. We couldn’t see them. Yet I’m fully vaccinated. Mum and dad are fully vaccinated, but the aged care workers we now found out are not vaccinated,” she said.
