28th April 2020

UPDATE ON VISITS TO OUR SITES

Dear Family and Friends,

Re: Update on Visits to our Sites

As promised, I am writing to you with an update on visitor access to our sites which is based on the most current information, we have available to us. I am pleased to be able to say that we have been able to access more detailed information with respect to the number of infections that are occurring in the regions we operate.

Previously as per my last letter we only had the ability to compare week to week results by geographical region however last week the Government began providing us with information by local council / regional council / shire area. This information allows us to be more targeted in our response as we are able to more narrowly identify where the potential “hot spots” are. Further the information also is broken down by how the virus was transmitted to the infected person which assists us in assessing the risk of spread to our local communities.

Given the new more detailed information we will now have more confidence to open our facilities where there are new cases as long as those new cases are not as a result of locally transmitted / acquired transmissions. This confidence comes as a result of the current restrictions resulting in persons arriving from overseas or from interstate having to self-isolate for a period of 14 days.

The attached table provides you with the information I am referring to and the following is a breakdown of the areas that our sites operate in:

  • Gold Coast – Melody Park Retirement Resort
  • Livingstone – Capricorn Adventist Retirement Village
  • Redland – Victoria Point Adventist Retirement Village
  • Sunshine Coast – Caloundra Adventist Retirement Village

The lines highlighted in yellow are the areas within which our sites operate whereas the other areas highlighted are adjacent to them. With the exception of Brisbane there are no highlighted lines that have had a local transmission of COVID-19 in the last week.

Whilst the above information has only been available for the last week the information by region has been available for much longer. Based on this information we now can confirm that there has been two weeks of no new infections within the region that our Capricorn Adventist Retirement Village operates. As such we are commencing restricted visitor access from the 1st of May and details of this will be sent out to those in this area shortly.

At this stage based on the current trend and that there have been no new local transmissions of the virus reported in the last week in the remaining regions in which we operate, it is our expectation to be able to open our remaining facilities to restricted visits from next week.

Further communication will be sent out to you via email and published on our website confirming the date and process / conditions that are in place for visits once the date for them to recommence has been confirmed. Many of the restrictions that will be in place are a requirement of the Queensland Government and / or the Federal Government however some will be as a result of our need to monitor and screen visitors prior to their entry.

I know that many of you will be keen to take advantage of the opportunity to recommence your visits and as such I ask for your patience as we put in place systems and processes to ensure we comply with the visitor screening / restriction requirements of the State and Federal Governments as well as our own precautions.

With respect to this I would remind you all that from the 1st of May no person is permitted to enter an Aged Care facility who has not been vaccinated and that is able to be. There are some exceptions to this however these are limited to emergency situations or due to the visitor having a medical exemption (a letter from a G.P. would be required).

Finally, and very importantly I want to personally thank all of you that took the time to send your thanks and support emails after our last communication. Your positive comments and affirmations have added a spring to our step and reminded us that what we do and how we do it is really valued and appreciated.

God bless,

Eric Anderson
CEO