Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in partnership with Eastern Health continue to work diligently to manage the COVID-19 outbreak at the Residential Aged Care Facility on site.
While it will still be some time until activities at the facility return to normal there is significant progress being made. The patience and support of all residents and their families is sincerely appreciated.
The residents who remain in the care of the staff at St John of God Hospital in Berwick, will be returning to Kirkbrae over the course of this week. It is expected that all residents will be back at the home by Friday 4 September. The designated resident representative will be contacted to advise when their loved one will be returning.
We continue to care for remaining residents in the Aged Care Facility at Kirkbrae. Residents are receiving good care, including pastoral care. Physiotherapy and Lifestyle services have also both recommenced. It is hoped that we will be soon in a position to return to the provision of all normal activities for the residents.
We expect that the Public Health Unit will provide guidance about when the outbreak will be declared complete and the facility moved to “continuous surveillance mode” in the coming days. This will be a significant step on the road to recovery from the outbreak.
We continue to make every effort to keep the families of our residents at Kirkbrae updated regularly on the health and well-being of their loved ones. The nominated family representative is contacted every day with an update regarding their loved one unless the representative has requested less frequent contact. We are also able to arrange for residents to talk to their family over Skype. Please contact the facility if you wish to arrange this.
Kirkbrae staff continue to return to work and at present just over half of the staff who were required to isolate after the outbreak have returned to duty. We are hopeful that the remaining staff will return over the next 3-4 weeks.
Kirkbrae and Eastern Health staff remain fully committed to the delivery of high quality and safe care to all residents at the facility and we look forward to being able to welcome back the remaining residents as soon as possible.
Rev Grant Lawry
Convener
Social Services Committee
John Fogarty
Acting Chief Executive Officer
