Relatives of residents who died when COVID-19 swept through St Basil’s aged care nursing home in Fawkner have said they are outraged by the facility’s decision to hold a memorial service for the deceased.
Fr Evmenios Vasilopoulos, the Archdiocesan Vicar of the Northcote district, who is the current Chairman of the nursing home following the resignation of Konstantinos Kontis in September 2020, told Neos Kosmos that he understands the suffering of the relatives. “I totally understand the pain and reaction of Greek Australians who lost their beloved people,” he said.
He added, however, that it is the “duty” of the home to hold the memorial service. “They were members of our family and we mourned and still mourn their loss,” he said.
Families received an email on Monday stating that the nursing home planned to “come together to remember loved ones who passed away following the COVID-19 outbreak” in 2020. A memorial service would be held in their honour at St Basil’s Nursing Home on Saturday, 31 July at 10am.
During the service, a candle will be lit in memory of each St Basil’s Resident who passed away to “honour them and reflect on their life, values and beliefs”.
In July last year, 94 of the 117 residents at the facility, most of them of Greek heritage, tested positive to COVID-19 resulting in 45 elderly people finally succumbing to the virus. Along with residents, 94 of the 120 staff members also tested positive.
On 23 July last year all staff at the facility were considered close contacts and had to be replaced, resulting in confusion for residents and their families.
This was followed by a federal investigation, which was damning. “I’ve never seen anything as appalling as this in Australia in terms of healthcare provided to Australians,” Epworth Hospital’s chief medical officer told the review.
The facility is also facing a state investigation and a WorkSafe probe over the deaths as it is claimed that safe practices were not followed.
The nursing home, severely impacted by the deaths, is now trying to move on with just 45 residents in its care, a third the size which the facility is equipped to accommodate. Fr Evmenios told Neos Kosmos that the aged care home has satisfied all the requirements placed by government officials. “We can now take on more residents, with government support,” he said, refusing, however, to comment on a class action suit against the home, run by Carbone Lawyers, which goes to court next week.
READ MORE: St Basil’s denies rumours of redundancies and closure
A number of relatives of the deceased who read the letter were angered by the extension of the facilities “deepest sympathies and condolences”, claiming it is the first meaningful contact they have had with the aged care provider which is under the aegis of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia. They say the letter is in poor taste.
Metaxia Tsihlakis, who lost her mother Georgia Mitsinikos, is one of the ones who is not impressed by the memorial service. Her mother, a resident at St Basil’s, passed away at the age of 87, and at the time, Ms Tsihlakis had said that her mother had been ill for a week before she had been transferred to hospital at the start of the outbreak.
“Having a memorial service for the residents that were once in their trust and care, and which through their ie St Basil’s mismanagement resulted in their residents’ deaths is hypocritical and painful for their families and friends,” she told Neos Kosmos.
“And the memorial service will not make amends for all the suffering they have caused.”
Other relatives are outraged also, claiming that their loved ones were “unprotected” while the Greek Orthodox Church got $14.6 million in rent and fees from St Basil’s in the five years to 2020 – an annual rent of $2.5 million paid last year alone, which was nearly double the amount both a council rates valuation and one of the state’s most senior commercial agents said it should pay. The facility, sitting on three hectares of land overlooking the Merri Creek had been purchased by the church for $525,000 in 1993, however sources last year told Neos Kosmos that the Archdiocese had invested millions of dollars for its constructions, hence the elevated rental return was to cover expenses of initial funds invested as well as to secure funding for a new facility in Clayton.
A copy of the letter sent by St Basil’s aged care home:
