Fronditha Care is the first residential aged care provider of its size to vaccinate the majority of its 456 residents, 700 staff, contractors and volunteers against COVID-19.
Fronditha Care was an early adopter of the vaccination program reaching enviable vaccination rates of its residents and staff in Residential Services. Whilst it has been reported that still only 44% of the aged care services workforce is vaccinated and the general population rates remain low with 26.9% of Australians having received both doses, Fronditha Care can proudly report that 76% of residential staff, and 84% of its residents are now fully vaccinated.
Anticipating delays in the Government vaccination rollout across aged care as early as June 2021, Fronditha Care acted quickly to administer the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to its remaining residents, staff, contractors, and volunteers, delivering the program at its Mulgrave Community Centre.
Fronditha Care’s CEO, Faye Spiteri- Tsolakis noted: “I didn’t want my staff and residents to endure another period of nervousness and trepidation regarding this virus. Especially in the last six months, we’ve done an outstanding job keeping our 456 residents and 700 staff and contractors across our five aged care homes and our corporate office free from the virus. I wanted to ensure, in as far as we can, that everyone in the Fronditha Care family is protected against COVID-19.”
Fronditha Care has organised multiple vaccine rollouts for residents, staff members, contractors, and volunteers. The organisation also took proactive steps to protect its Community Services staff and volunteers who haven’t been eligible for vaccination until recently. Corporate staff too were given the opportunity to get vaccinated in these additional vaccination rounds.
Faye Spiteri- Tsolakis said “I am very proud of my team, who have done a magnificent job of delivering such a large number of vaccinations in such a short time. I am also proud that we were able to reach out to almost 400 people within our community around our aged care services through provision of the Pfizer vaccine turning our Mulgrave Support Hub into a vaccination hub.”
She added: “The incredibly high uptake of the vaccine by residents, staff, contractors and volunteers gives us all great confidence that we have minimised the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak at Fronditha Care sites, positioning us as some of the safest residential aged care homes and community services in Australia as we go through yet another challenging few months with the current outbreak.”
Fronditha Care has acted with a great duty of care to its community and not only observed strict health guidelines and protocols since the pandemic started but ensured it does everything possible and within its reach to protect all its people and the broader community.
Fronditha Care extends a plea to those in the broader community to get vaccinated as soon as they become eligible. There is a lot of hesitancy, mostly due to the plethora of misinformation online, but GPs and other credible sources are available if people wish to seek out advice about the COVID-19 vaccine and how safe it is for them. Visit https://bit.ly/3k1H7vM for more information.
