My mother, Audrey Muriel, is 103. She has been living in an aged care residence for 18 months. She is frail and in a wheelchair and needs full professional care. But she has all her marbles.
She often comments on how she has made many good, new friends at the residence. They are her cronies in care. She has a nice room with a view to gardens and sky beyond. She enjoys her morning encounters in the common room where they all read the papers together, chat and play bingo.
She enjoys sharing her meals in the dining room with other residents. And she particularly enjoys playing bridge most afternoons. She often says, “I had a great day of bridge today. I felt as if I was 25 again. Nothing wrong with my mind.”
Until the emergence of the Delta variant of Covid-19, there was nothing wrong with her mind. But since the repeated long, drawn-out lockdowns, this is no longer the case.
Her aged care residence has been very responsible and careful in its care. All the 120 residents (apart from three who refused and have accepted ongoing isolation) and all the staff are fully vaccinated.
But every time there is a scare, usually a staff worker identified as carrying the Covid virus, the place goes into lockdown and all the residents are confined to their rooms. That means no common room bingo, no sharing of meals, no bridge, no sessions sitting on outside terrace in the fresh air. And most importantly, no visits from family.
Designated my mother’s primary carer, I was able to visit her for one hour a day, provided I had my vaccination certification in hand and the negative results from a current Covid test.
A week ago, when the residence was in the middle of yet another 14-day lockdown, my mother said she was not feeling well. She felt sick in the stomach and had an accumulation of mucus in her throat. She also said she was depressed and was “sooky” for her family.
The doctor came, gave her the once over and rang me to say that all her vital signs were OK. I said I thought all the lying down on her bed during the day had exacerbated the mucus build up. I urged my mother to sit in her chair instead of lying on the bed.
Every effort has been made to engage the residents in activities while they have been confined to their rooms for days on end. In regular updates from staff, we find that the residents are being given activity packs filled with crosswords, word games and short stories. They are having one-on-one visits from staff, and if they are wearing full personal protection gear, they may be taken by one of the lifestyle team on short walks to the courtyards or terraces. They may also be shown travel documentaries in their rooms and book Skype sessions with family members.
I appreciate the efforts made by my mother’s aged care residence to engage with everyone living there, but Covid has put a dent in their staff numbers. As a result, the remaining staff are struggling to deliver the usual toilet, shower, dressing, and medication needs of everyone, all while organising the delivery of meals to their rooms as well as entertaining them.
I ring my mother every day but despite hearing aids and an amplification telephone, my mother, who is increasingly deaf, struggles to hear what I am saying.
While the efforts of the lifestyle team are reassuring, I am still worried about my normally buoyant mother saying she is depressed – and feeling sick.
The Black Dog Institute, the Australian not-for-profit facility for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mood disorders such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, explains that older people may complain of a range of physical symptoms for which no adequate medical explanation can be found. Common symptoms include dizziness, chronic aches and pains, constipation, weight loss and insomnia. My mother complains of all those when she is in low spirits.
This is a dilemma of the current aged care system. All staff and residents are fully vaccinated but if someone turns out to be carrying the Covid virus, immediate lockdown is imposed and the old people are isolated in their rooms.
But who is being protected? Pointing to one of her elderly, fully vaccinated patients found to have the Covid virus, my doctor said, “He is asymptomatic and in overall good health. It proves me to how wonderful the vaccine is, how it is so effectively protecting people.” As indicated, it protects the vaccinated from serious Covid health effects but it does not protect vaccinated people picking up the virus and unknowingly spreading to others.
When I am able to visit my mother, I have proven vaccination certification and I am Covid free, as in the past. So I am not going to introduce the virus into the aged care residence. I am more likely to pick it up from one of the residents. In the meantime, my old mother is locked away from normal socialisation with her friends in care and her family. Despite recent government avowals to rectify the situation, I am not holding my breath.
If this continues ad infinitum, I’m worried my mother could succumb to ill health due to depression and die.
• Dr Sandra Symons is a freelance researcher, academic and writer
