St Basil’s residents ‘dying from neglect, not virus’

“And she’s one of the lucky ones because she’s still alive,” Jack Karikas said.

The Essendon man was one of many frantic people who gathered outside the Fawkner aged-care facility on Sunday demanding to know if their loved ones were still alive.

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And the situation got so desperate Mr Karikas and his wife Helen brushed past the sole staffer and went to the window where his mother-in-law Vicky Patsakos was behind.

“She was unresponsive, just laying there on the bed,” Mr Karikas said.

“We started banging on the window and took our face masks off so she could recognise us, and she started motioning for water.

“These residents aren’t dying from coronavirus, they’re dying from neglect.”

Mr Karikas said he yelled through a closed glass door to staff at reception, pleading with them to give his mother-in-law water.

Mr Karikas also said, following discussions with nurses inside the facility, his mother-in-law had not been showered, fed, given water or had her medication administered correctly.

“She has Alzheimer’s so she won’t reach out for water or food, she won’t have her medication unless it’s been crushed – none of these individual care needs have been handed over. She’s just laying there neglected,” he said.

Mr Karikas said he was also told she had been locked in her bedroom, restricting her movement so much she had lost strength and needed to be placed into a wheelchair upon a transfer to Peninsula Private Hospital in Frankston on Monday night.

Almost 800 COVID-19 cases in Victoria have now been linked to 61 aged-care centres, including 88 at St Basil’s.

Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos choked up during a live press conference on Tuesday while announcing more deaths in Melbourne aged-care homes.

Visibly upset, Ms Mikakos took a long pause while expressing her condolences to family members whose loved ones had died at St Basil’s.

“(St Basil’s) is close to many members of the Greek community and I know they have been distressed to see the rising toll of deaths at that facility. Sorry …” she said before taking a moment to compose herself.

It comes after a myriad of other stories in recent days detailing the grief and suffering of those who were given no opportunity to say goodbye to deceased loved ones.

“These people should die with dignity, respect and when the time is right – that is a basic human right that everyone of us should have and deserves to have, and that’s been taken away,” Mr Karikas said.

Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters on Tuesday he wouldn’t let his mum be in some of the state’s private aged-care facilities grappling with coronavirus outbreaks.

“My mother is in her mid-70s, she has some underlying health issues, but she lives at home,” he said.

“Some of the stories we’ve seen are unacceptable, and I wouldn’t want my mum in some of those places, but that’s not a matter for me.”

“I can’t change that … I would not let my mum be in some of these places. I just wouldn’t. But that’s not a decision I have to make at the moment because she’s living at home.”

But Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt fought back tears as he defended aged-care workers.

“The idea that our carers, that our nurses are not providing that care is, I think, a dangerous statement to make,” he said.

“I will not hear a word against them.”

Nurses will be deployed from hospitals to aged-care centres in a bid to calm the volatile outbreaks.

Under the plan, priority aged-care homes would be targeted and residents moved out if there were concerns raised by specialist medical teams.

Up to 200 residents have already been moved from facilities into hospitals.

Elective surgeries have taken a further hit with non-urgent category 2 and category 1 elective surgery cancelled to free up space.

anthony.piovesan@news.com.au

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