Maria* has worked as an aged care nurse in Australia for more than 20 years. She says she practically lives with her patients and knows them better than their own families.
But that’s not the only thing she knows – Maria understands all too well her work is crucial in helping her clients survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maria works for Whiddon, an Australian aged care provider that runs a number of facilities across regional, remote and rural New South Wales and Queensland.
She claims health authorities and her employer are currently failing her, her colleagues and their clients, by not routinely providing the most basic protective equipment: facemasks, gloves and other PPE gear designed to avoid infection.
"We have no protection," Maria tells SBS Spanish.
“[Our residents] cough they don't know how to cover their mouths because they are very old; they [sometimes] spit on us. I would like [my employer] to protect us, just like they do hospital nurses. We need the same equipment.”
The describes the use of facemasks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) as “high priority” in healthcare and primary care.
But unlike in public hospitals, general practices, community pharmacies, “and other settings where people are most likely to be presenting with COVID-19”, aged care providers are only directed to ensure the supply of facemasks and other PPE to staff and residents when there is a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19.
But Maria feels that having to wait for an outbreak for facemasks to be issued is risky.
She also says the lack of facemasks is not new to her workplace. In previous years, she has felt exposed to wintertime outbreaks of influenza.
She claims she contracted influenza during last year’s flu season. She resisted instructions to wear the same mask for the duration of her whole shift, as protective masks are only meant to be worn for a few hours.
Maria says her supervisors said they couldn’t provide sufficient facemasks because of budget cuts.
Maria considers that the need for masks is even more imperative now with the coronavirus and flu season approaching since residents are constantly going in and out of hospital due to their multiple ailments.
"We need to protect ourselves, as well as protect them too. We come [into work] from the street, where we can catch something, and we could infect them," she stresses.
At the time of publication, COVID-19 had already infected more than 4,000 people in Australia and killed nearly twenty.
Whiddon has 20 residential aged care homes in two states. Source: AAP
There are almost 250,000 people, mostly women, who work directly or indirectly in the aged care sector.
Following the COVID-19 outbreak, Australian authorities have introduced a series of requirements and advice for residential care facilities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which includes a series of measures to protect residents and staff.
The National Guidelines for the Prevention, Control and Public Health Management of COVID-19 Outbreaks in Residential Care Facilities in Australia Checklist includes the question: “Has your Residential Care Facility acquired adequate stock of PPE, hand hygiene products, nose and throat swabs and cleaning supplies?”
However, the Department of Health is currently only supplying masks to “GPs, community pharmacies, and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.”
Aged care providers can apply for PPE supplies, although the government will assess requests based on priority:
"Priority will be given to aged care providers where there has been a confirmed case of COVID-19," the site reads.
However, Maria insists that having facemasks is an utmost necessity now and complains that Whiddon's management has informed her through her supervisor, a registered nurse, that this equipment is not available now to staff due to high demand.
"They tell us they don't have it, that they ordered some in January, some in February, but the stock hasn't arrived," she claims.
According to Maria, Whiddon says that if they want PPE, they must cover the costs themselves: "If you want to protect yourself, you have to bring [the face masks and gloves] from your house, buy it for yourself."
Maria claims her colleagues, many of them mothers of young children, are also worried but don’t complain openly because they fear they will lose their jobs.
“If all the aged care nurses get sick, who is going to take care of all the residents?” Maria laments.
SBS Spanish sought comment from Whiddon, and asked if they considered the company is providing enough protective gear to their staff.
Whiddon responded they have and “always will provide sufficient personal protective equipment to our teams,” while adding, “in line with the Department of Health guidelines, we will follow their recommendations that if there is a suspected or confirmed case of a resident with COVID-19, that PPE is provided to our care teams.”
*Not her real name.
