McLean Care reports its first COVID related death.

Omicron continues to take its toll everyday with more COVID related deaths across many residential aged care homes reported. It is with great sadness that McLean Care has its first COVID related death since the start of the pandemic over 2.5 years ago.

A much-loved McLean Care male resident of five years with underlying health conditions has passed away in hospital on Sunday 31^st July. Our hearts go out to his family and we extend our deepest condolences for their loss, said McLean Care CEO, Sue Thomson.

“Two and half years into the COVID pandemic, we are incredibly saddened by this loss.  It’s a stark reminder of how our communities must learn to live with COVID-19. It also reinforces that our priority remains steadfast, and that is to be as least restrictive as possible so that our McLean Care residents can enjoy their personal freedoms as much as possible in a safe and protected way”.

From the beginning of the pandemic we have implemented our comprehensive COVID-19 Outbreak Management Plan which is based on Commonwealth and state government guidelines and industry best practice to safeguard all of our residents, staff, and the community. I commend our team’s commitment to our safe practices and being able to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 community transmission into our homes.

McLean Care continues to screen everyone entering our residential homes, vaccinated or unvaccinated. This includes, our staff, visitors and residents returning from daily outings. Our screening practices include rapid antigen testing, wellness screening and the provision of N95 masks to all visitors.
Our staff are well trained, prepared and have been managing these outbreaks from the very beginning.  We continue to wear full personal protective equipment while providing care and our infection control precautions also include increased health monitoring for staff and residents along with additional cleaning procedures.

To safeguard all residents, staff, and visitors, McLean Care wants to assure the community that we are in continual communication with both NSW and QLD Health Authorities and regardless of the easing of aged care restrictions across NSW last month,  McLean Care did not be change any of our current risk and safety processes.

The Omicron outbreak has seen significantly higher rates of community transmission nationwide, which is a trend that has been reflected among the aged care population.

“Our focus is and will always be on ensure our residents and staff are kept as safe as possible. However we understand that our residents mental health and quality of life versus the risk of infection transmission needs to be balanced in a sensible manner. It is important that our residents are able to accept visits from their loved ones, regardless of their vaccination status, or enjoy outings within their communities in a safe way” said Sue Thomson.
Further media information contact: 

Sue Thomson

CEO McLean Care

Phone 1300 791 660

(About)

Established in 1970 McLean Care is a long-established provider of the highest quality community, retirement, and aged care lifestyle services. McLean Care^® has grown to become one of the largest providers in the North-West region of NSW and Darling Downs region of QLD.