NOT HAPPY NEW YEAR

First day back for my first editorial of 2009 but I won’t say Happy New Year. Because, for many people around the world, it is not. War again in the Middle East and nightly on the TV news ghastly images of dead children. In Afghanistan another Australian soldier dies.  And Zimbabwe. The world sits and watches a country in its death throes. Some weeks ago that monster Mugabe closed public hospitals in the capital of Harere. The morgue has no power supply so the corpses rot. The cholera spreads. And Mugabe says ‘I will never, never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine.’ Or what’s left of it.

On Wall Street the billion dollar scams continue –including the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. And America, and, to a real extent, the world waits for the Black Messiah: President-elect Barrack Obama. In a week he’ll be sworn in as President. And what a helluva job he’s got ahead of him at home and abroad.

Speaking of home. And the start of another year. Nothing changes. There’s another nursing home scandal that hasn’t been made public. It concerns the Amaroo Gardens aged care home in Ferntree Gully. It has been in lockdown for two weeks. That means elderly residents have not been allowed any visitors this year.

It’s a council run facility but finding out what is going on there is a nightmare.
Just after Christmas there was an outbreak of gastroenteritis in a home which has about 100 residents.

Five days ago the Knox Council acting chief executive Mark Dupe said 21 residents had shown symptoms over the past week, but said the situation was improving. That was five days ago. Now it’s been going on for two weeks.

Mr. Dupe said staff had ‘undertaken extensive cleaning regimes to contain the risk of cross infection.’

How long does it take to clean a place up? And why can’t they isolate infected people?

I accept the need for rapid lockdown to contain a disease and to protect residents, visitors and staff. My father’s nursing home was in lockdown for two days recently and I know how agitated he became when he couldn’t have visitors.

Imagine if you were a resident of Amaroo Gardens and hadn’t had a visitor for two weeks.

You have to ask how come it has taken so long? And my suspicion is that it has been exacerbated by the holidays. I can’t help but remember a similar case last year –when some residents died – but little appeared to be done because it was Easter.

If you call Amaroo Gardens for any info you are told that ‘Family and friends wanting to ask about a loved one can call the council's aged services department on 92988000.’

We did that. And were put on hold. We listened to promotional blurb telling us how good Knox Council is and what wonderful things they do. After ten minutes we hung up.

I want proof that Knox Council and the Department of Human Services haven’t hung up on the elderly residents of Amaroo Gardens.

Monday, January 12, 2009

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2008