The recently-issued statement titled ‘COVID-19 ravages our aged care community members’, notes that elderly Greek Australians are amongst the hardest hit by the crisis.
Highlights
- The Greek Community of Melbourne urges governing authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into coronavirus deaths and infections in Victorian aged care facilities.
- There is an overrepresentation of Greek Australians in lives lost from COVID-19 in the state.
- The Community states ‘concerned’ that pandemic-speficic matters have fallen outside the purview of the Royal Commission in Aged Care.
“There is a high proportion of elderly Greek-Australians, especially in aged care, that have passed away due to COVID-19 or are currently in hospital fighting for their life as a result of this pandemic,” the statement reads.
Indeed, the majority of Victoria’s coronavirus death toll – 576 – is attributed to nursing homes, with almost one in five casualties estimated to refer to Greek community members.
As per the latest available data, nursing homes Epping Gardens and St Basil’s in Fawkner catering to a predominantly Greek population feature on top of the state’s list of aged care outbreaks.
Responding ‘extremely saddened’ by recent developments, the Greek Community of Melbourne calls on “the industry’s governing authorities to leave no stone unturned in investigating what went wrong and what needs to be urgently fixed to provide the care some of our most vulnerable community members deserve.”
The statement concludes by raising concerns that submissions for the Royal Commission in Aged Care closed at the end of July, with management of the outbreaks in nursing homes not taken into account.
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