How do you stop a virus you don't totally understand who could kill the people you are dedicated to care for? This was just one of the enormous expectations placed on the shoulders of nursing homes around the country in 2020.
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Finally, with the gradual easing of health restrictions across the state, nursing home Scalabrini Village reflects on the successes and valuable lessons learnt, caring for Griffith's elderly community members through a pandemic.
Despite nursing homes being infection control experts, no one thoroughly understood what they were really dealing with when COVID hit in March.
"The back end of March going into April is when we started to realise we were not going to be operating the way we had always operated here," Mr Kasawaya, manager of Scalabrini Village said.
"Caution was the key. One of the first things we knew as an organisation was to stop it from getting in. So that was our key."
"It was hard because we weren't sure what we were stopping - It was all uncharted waters," Emilio Aramini, well-being co-ordinator said.
The strain that has been on staff this year has been unimaginable Mr Kasawaya explained. With volunteers and families out of the picture since April, staff have had to fill the gaps taking on more responsibility. Despite more staff being employed, mental and emotional 'burn out' was a concern from management.
"Staff have been asked to take time off to be able to cope with the stress and that was encouraged because we didn't want anyone to burn out," Mr Aramini said.
Scalabrini have had a number of quiet successes to take out of this year also. Prioritising the mental health of their residents and facilitating families being able to safely visit their palliative loved ones, among a few.
"The cautions were still in place for families to visit, but we thought how could we morally stop those visits?" Mr Aramini said.
"Scalabrini took the approach of if the shoe was on the other foot basically. If that was your mum or dad dying, how could you cope without seeing them?"
This was a decision that was eventually vindicated by the NSW government who announced that exceptions could be made for visitors under 'compassionate grounds'.
Scalabrini Village, like all aged care facilities in Australia, won't return to pre-COVID times in the foreseeable future, however the lessons of this year have meant they feel ready for what may lie ahead.
"As far as going back to how we used to be, I don't see it coming any time soon," Mr Kasawaya said.
"We are going to have to learn to live with it."
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Kat is a former English teacher to international students and has taught all over the world. She is beginning a new career as a journalist with the Area News. Got something you want to chat about? She's all ears.
Kat is a former English teacher to international students and has taught all over the world. She is beginning a new career as a journalist with the Area News. Got something you want to chat about? She's all ears.
