A woman whose mother contracted COVID-19 in a Melbourne aged care home says the sector needs a complete overhaul to address its systemic faults, and has called on the government to "stop promising and start doing".
Elizabeth Pateritsas’ mother Serafia contracted the virus at Benetas St George’s nursing home in the suburb of Altona Meadows in August.
But Ms Pateritsas said the shocking neglect of her 80-year-old mother started long before the pandemic took hold.
Ms Pateritsas said her mother had spent weeks recovering in hospital. Despite physically recovering from the virus, she said she has been left deeply traumatised by the experience.
Serafia Pateritsas and her husband Source: SBS News
“The last time she went into hospital, she told me she wanted to die. She said it's better that I die, I love you and I want you to have a good life,” Ms Pateritsas told SBS News.
There have been more than 300 aged care deaths in Victoria linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A royal commission into the sector has heard claims staff were ill-prepared for the crisis and that there was a critical shortage in personal protective equipment in homes.
Ms Pateritsas said the pandemic has exposed systemic concerns in the sector, including lack of training and hygiene at facilities and critical staff shortages, such as a “two-staff-to-30-resident ratio”.
“My mum would be waiting for long periods of time to be toileted, the food was disgusting - sometimes just devilled eggs with a bit of bread,” she said.
“I've witnessed other people falling down, I've witnessed people freezing and not being given a blanket and I repeatedly had to ask for a blanket.”
The federal government’s handling of the aged care emergency response has come under fire, with Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck under increasing pressure to resign.
Serafia and Elizabeth Pateritsas Source: SBS News
Last month, he apologised in the Senate for failing to recall aged care figures during an inquiry into the sector, including the number of aged care residents who had died because of COVID-19.
He was censured by the Senate on Thursday for failing to take responsibility for the sector's handling of the crisis.
Ms Pateritsas said she had contacted her local member of parliament over her concerns and eventually gained the attention of Labor Senator Kristina Keneally and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.
Senator Keneally and Mr Albanese organised a zoom meeting to speak with Ms Pateritsas, as part of a broader push to engage more regularly and effectively with different multicultural groups in the community.
Mr Albanese said multicultural groups had been disproportionally affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Shadow Home Affairs Minister Kristina Keneally, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and Shadow Multicultural Affairs Minister Andrew Giles on zoom call. Source: SBS News
“Multicultural groups have been impacted adversely by COVID-19, many of them disproportionally as well, and that’s why we need to reach out to those communities and provide them with the support they need,” he said.
“In a very practical way, we've been reminded during this pandemic how interrelated we all are and if issues arise in terms of health infections in one community, it very quickly spreads.
"So, we have an interest in making sure that every community is brought together.”
Ms Pateritsas said her mother was the matriarch of the family, having migrated from Greece to Australia in the 1970s.
Her parents “worked hard and earnt an honest living” and were adored by their children and grandchildren, she said.
The couple worked in factories with other Greek migrants and never learnt English fluently as a result.
Ms Pateritsas said she later found a lack of appropriate aged care services for culturally and linguistically diverse Australians, like her mother.
Serafia Pateritsas with her family Source: Supplied
“Her lack of ability to be able to communicate with staff would lead to miscommunication of medical issues,” she said.
“She would complain about redness on her back, which we established later was as a result of her clothing rolling up behind her, which then caused an itching and she couldn't explain that in English regardless of how much she tried, she could not explain that in her level of English.”
Ms Pateritsas is calling on politicians to come up with a plan to overhaul the sector and “stop promising and start doing”.
“All these lives matter, these are people's mothers and grandmothers and wives and husbands.”
Last month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison apologised to residents in aged care facilities and their families for his government's failings during the pandemic.
But he has repeatedly rejected accusations made during the royal commission that the federal government still lacks an adequate plan for outbreaks in the sector.
"There has been a plan, and it has been updated, and so we completely reject the assertion that there was not a plan, because there was a plan," he said on 14 August
The government has since announced to lock in workforces and protect against more deadly coronavirus outbreaks.
Almost $250 million will be pumped into nursing homes to develop staff and ensure adequate personal protective equipment is available.
