Date Posted: 1/05/2020
Anglicare Sydney is deeply saddened to advise of the death of a resident at Newmarch House on the afternoon of Thursday 30 April who had tested positive for COVID-19. The family has been contacted as have all the relevant authorities.
This is a time of great grief for the family and we want to extend our deepest sympathies.
The Coronavirus has had a devastating impact on all our residents and families as well as our staff over the last three weeks.
We are very appreciative of the support being provided by the Commonwealth and NSW Governments and by the sector more broadly.
In addition and as advised yesterday, through further testing another three residents at Newmarch House have been identified as positive with COVID-19. This is despite us having strict procedures and enforced infection control practices in place. You will appreciate this is further distressing news. These new cases may reflect historical transmissions and reflect the rigorous and ongoing testing at Newmarch House. We will be investigating further how this has occurred.
On a more positive note, as our communication with residents is improving we have been able to turn more attention to communicating with families, and window-visits are proving successful. We are looking at ways to further improve our communications and pastoral care to both residents and families.
Given the experience from other aged care sites that have had an outbreak of COVID-19 both here and overseas, it is very likely we will be dealing with the devastating impacts of this virus for some weeks to come.
Media contact:
Chris Pettett
Public Affairs Manager
0429 569 278
[email protected]