I’m a registered nurse working in Aged Care… which used to be a respectable thing. Now staff in aged care is portrayed in a bad way.
Why? because residents are getting Covid 19 and they never left the facility – it was brought in to them. Same as Norovirus, Influenza etc. All staff working with the residents come and go. We have families, we have needs, we go shopping, supermarkets, butchers, doctors, restaurants, schools. We do our best. e don’t want to pass anything onto the residents intentionally, nor do we want to bring a disease home to our children, our families, our loved ones.
We take precautions, we wash our hands, we self isolate as necessary – but what happens?
Aged care staff are mostly employed on a casual basis. So they work across a few facilities or hospital or community jobs. We need money to live the same as everyone else. Food, fuel, rent, mortgages, bills all need to be paid and families need to be fed.
A lot of staff are working because the Aged Care industry will never stop. Other industries have stopped and many partners are now unemployed. The Government has now taken action to stop staff working in multi sites, lessening our incomes.
What about us? The media is talking out the “tragedy in aged care”, the pandemic, the deaths… and we are going to work amidst this. Staff in some states have to work in masks and PPE all day – which to a resident is frightening.
We can’t social distance. Lots of residents have visual impairment, hearing impairments, and cognitive impairments with difficulty understanding what is happening. They have heart disease, lung disease, fatigue easily with osteoarthritis and chronic pain and requires staff physical assistance.
How do you shower someone, lift them up, help them transfer, feed them, dress them and keep them comfortable and pain free with a mask on.
It stresses the residents in their home and the staff who are caught in the middle. Add to this the social media jibes… “maybe this is a sign from God – let everyone get Covid 19 and it will thin out the herd”…
We work in aged care because we care – we never became nurses to be rich. Please understand and help us.
Do not just show up and demand to visit your mum in aged care. Self isolate and protect your loved ones. Wear a mask when you visit in aged care. Aged care facilities will help residents stay connected with family and friends by phone and video calls.
Some people cannot visit a residential aged care facility. These are people who:
- have returned from overseas in the past 14 days
- have been in contact with someone confirmed to have COVID-19 in the past 14 days
- are unwell, including with a fever or symptoms of acute respiratory illness (such as cough, sore throat, runny nose, shortness of breath)
- have not had a flu vaccination in 2020
Lets keep our residents safe – this is their home – they don’t live in our workplace.
