The ‘Frontida’ elderly care centres announced their plans to further extend their visitation restrictions for yet another two weeks.

The CEO of the community service Mr Michael Malakonas explains the reasons behind this decision in the announcement, citing an escalation of the risk of coronavirus infections and the potentially lethal effect the disease could have on elders.

“Dear care recipient/ family member or representative,

It has been two weeks since we enacted voluntary lockdown across all of Fronditha Care’s residential care sites in Victoria and NSW, on 19/3/2020. To date, Fronditha Care has no cases of Coronavirus amongst its residents and staff. We are being vigilant to safeguard the residential aged care environment to the extent possible. We have been closely monitoring the external environment to ensure we are complying and going over and above government mandated guidelines and recommendations. As communicated to you previously, the enactment of all precautionary measures requires your support and understanding. On Sunday 29/3/2020, the Prime Minister announced a series of measures and recommendations being enforced by State governments that have effectively upgraded the level of restrictions to combat the spread of Coronavirus to Level 3. Level 3 has been enacted as Coronavirus has not been contained and there is a risk of infections exponentially escalating, without drastic and immediate community action.

Moreover, the Prime Minister expressly stated Coronavirus has more serious impacts on older Australians, particularly those over 70 years of age and Australians with existing health conditions or comorbidities, strongly advising this group to self-isolate to the maximum extent practicable.

Voluntary lockdown is currently being enacted by aged care providers right across Australia. The current example of an aged care facility in Macquarie Park, NSW, where five residents have now passed away and the devastating cases of Coronavirus affected nursing homes in Europe and the USA, have prompted providers to take stringent pre-emptive measures.

It is due to the above considerations that Fronditha Care will extend the voluntary lockdown across all its residential care facilities for a further two week period until 7pm, Sunday 19/4/2020, to limit the risk of infection of Coronavirus to our residents.

We understand this is not an easy time for families who have elderly family members in our care and this extended period of no physical contact will be upsetting for all those involved. However, we want to assure you that we take our responsibility towards your loved ones and to you very seriously. Your safety and wellbeing and that of our residents and staff remain our primary concern.

We will communicate with you prior to Sunday 19/4/2020 to inform you whether the voluntary lockdown will continue or be lifted. This will depend on many factors, not least of which how successful our society has been in containing the Coronavirus via the federal and state recommendations. This will be communicated to you via sms, email and an announcement on our website https://frondithacare.org.au/news-publications-events/covid-19/.

It is imperative that you as the primary or secondary contact notify your family members, relatives and friends of the two week extension of voluntary lockdown and their obligation to comply.

Voluntary Lockdown

Voluntary lockdown means visits to the facilities will not be permitted during the specified time. This means anyone attempting to visit a family member in our care will not be granted access to the facility. There will be exceptions in the event of an emergency. Please contact the manager of your facility if you have any questions.

Activities and Communicating with your family members

As per our communication last week, on 25/3/2020, our facilities have increased staffing levels during this time and our lifestyle program is providing additional activities over longer hours, with life in the facilities continuing as normal. We hope you have been able to utilise the digital communication tools available to stay in touch with your loved ones. Please find below the contact details of our Managers of Residential Care if you require further information on these solutions.

Clayton Manager of Residential Care – Jayson Vinod 03 9239 2103
Templestowe Manager of Residential Care – Angela Cox 03 8850 5120
Newcastle Manager of Residential Care – Renee Bognar 02 4016 4160
Thornbury Manager of Residential Care – Tina Lamond 03 9495 2307
St. Albans Manager of Residential Care – Sue Donaldson 03 9365 4307

Government Mandated Flu Vaccine

We would like to take this opportunity to inform you of a federal government mandated measure announced on 18 March 2020. To protect older Australians in residential aged care facilities and in the community, the government has imposed a number of restrictions on entry into aged care
facilities, including a ban on staff and visitors, who have not been vaccinated against influenza after 1/5/2020. You will therefore need to have made arrangements to have the current flu vaccine and provide documented evidence if you are to be permitted entry to a residential aged care facility in
Australia after 1/5/2020.

We appreciate your co-operation in this matter and thank you for your support.
Yours Sincerely
Michael”