Residents and their families will be reunited on Saturday as Carinity Cedarbrook reopens their Mudgeeraba aged care community to visitors following a two-week lockdown due to a positive COVID-19 case.
The reopening comes after five rounds of tests on the community’s 91 residents and 122 staff revealed the virus had not spread beyond the initial positive result.
According to Carinity CEO, Jon Campbell, the reopening will be a joyous occasion for staff, residents and their families.
“Our staff have a strong bond with our residents, and they are very pleased and relieved that their hard work to prevent any spread of the virus was successful. We have kept in close contact with the families of residents throughout the past two weeks and we know they will be delighted to see their loved ones again,” Mr Campbell said.
In conjunction with the Gold Coast Public Health Unit, Carinity implemented established infection control procedures including the use of full personal protective equipment and limiting resident movement throughout the community immediately upon a staff member being notified they were a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case.
“Employees receive extensive training in preparation for a possible outbreak and those processes were implemented immediately. The swift actions of management and staff at Cedarbrook and support from across the organisation was certainly a contributing factor in our ability to control the spread of the virus,” Mr Campbell said.
Mr Campbell also identified the organisation’s strong support of COVID-19 vaccines for staff and residents as a crucial factor in the virus being contained.
“100% of the staff across our 12 aged care communities have been doubled vaccinated and, at Cedarbrook, over 90% of residents were fully protected. Being vaccinated remains the best way to contain the spread of the virus and it is something Carinity is totally committed to,” he said.
