Health

Visitor Update – the latest…

by

In line with the latest information from the Dept of Health, here is our up to date visitor information.
Until at least 11.59pm on Wednesday 30 December 2020:

  • Up to two visitors per day are permitted to visit residents at the Abel Tasman Village.
  • Visits will be strictly 1 hours per resident.
  • Masks must be strictly worn throughout your visit, even if you’re in the room with the resident.
  • Residents cannot leave the facility to attend family gatherings and group excursions. Essential travel is permitted (such as for a medical appointment).
  • Please arrive at your allocated time, as early arrivals may be asked to wait.
  • If a visit is not essential and can be substituted by a later festive gathering, that would be much appreciated and allow us to focus on supervised visits for essential reasons.

Abel Tasman Village apologies for any inconvenience caused. We hope you can make the best out of a very bad situation. Thank you for your support and your understanding.

Have a very Merry Christmas and safe New Year.

Sophia Markwell
General Manager.

Visiting Update

by

This post has been updated – please check later updates

As expected, we closely follow NSW Government Health advice. This is being updated regularly, including visitation arrangements. At the time of writing, the directions (until at least 11.59pm on Wednesday 23 December 2020) state:

  • all residential aged care facilities across NSW must exclude visitors. Visitors performing essential caring functions may be exempted. Where there are exceptional circumstances (for example, a dying relative), seek advice from your local NSW Health public health unit on 1300 066 055
  • all staff and exempted visitors must wear a surgical mask while in a residential aged care facility.
  • While Abel Tasman is scheduled to open for visitors during Christmas and New Year period, our industry bodies ACSA has been advised that NSW Health will be issuing advice to Aged Care providers following this morning’s press conference. They have asked that the advice is clear and definitive and is sent as a matter of urgency. As yet, we have not received answers to those questions and are following up.
  • There has been influx of phone calls the facility regarding the updates, Please wait until the update from ATV to make plans for the next few days.

Please be assured that we will keep you updated via all the usual channels.

Sophia Markwell,
General Manager

December Visits

by

[18 Dec 2020: Please check our Book-A-Visit page for the latest information.]

Here is our December visitor calendar. As you can see above, we’re open in the afternoons of: December 1, 2, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30 and January 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9.

Visitors from Melbourne are now welcome at Abel Tasman Village, yeah!

COVID-19 fragments continue to be detected in sewage, so visitors from the following areas should take extra precaution when visiting. Please monitor for symptoms.

  • Western Sydney treatment plants

The area served by two sewage pumping stations includes the suburbs of North Kellyville, Rouse Hill, Box Hill, The Ponds, Kellyville Ridge, Parklea, Quakers Hill and Acacia Gardens.

  • Rouse Hill treatment plant

The area served by the Rouse Hill treatment plant includes the suburbs of Quakers Hill, Castle Hill, Annangrove, Kellyville, Box Hill, Kenthurst, Glenhaven, The Ponds, Rouse Hill, North Kellyville, Kellyville Ridge, Beaumont Hills, Stanhope Gardens, Baulkham Hills, Glenwood, Bella Vista, Parklea, Acacia Gardens and Norwest.

  • Liverpool treatment plant

The area served by the Liverpool treatment plant includes the suburbs of Bardia, Hinchinbrook, Hoxton Park, Abbotsbury, Ingleburn, Prestons, Holsworthy, Edmondson Park, Austral, Cecil Park, Cecil Hills, Elizabeth Hills, Bonnyrigg Heights, Edensor Park, Green Valley, Pleasure Point, Casula, Hammondville, Liverpool, Moorebank, Wattle Grove, Miller, Cartwright, Lurnea, Warwick Farm, Chipping Norton, Voyager Point, Macquarie Links, Glenfield, Catherine Field, Gledswood Hills, Varroville, Leppington, West Hoxton, Horningsea Park, Middleton Grange, Len Waters Estate, Carnes Hill, Denham Court.

Stay well,
Sophia Markwell,
General Manager

Visits and Outings

by

It’s good to be able to announce a further relaxation of the way we manage visits to and for our residents. Here are a few ways we propose a gradual return to “normal”:

Outside visits
Residents can once again attend small family gatherings away from Abel Tasman Village. Please book such outings ahead of time as per the usual booking process.

Resident outings
We are resuming regular outings for residents to outside venues. The first is a visit to the botanical gardens next week.

We have updated the calendar with visiting days for the rest of the month. Dates are 14, 15, 17,20.21, 22, 23, 26, 28, 29 November and 1st December. As before, we’re open for visits between 1.00 and 5.00 pm.

As before, to book, call any day on (0401) 472 926 between 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm only. Alternatively send an SMS to this number.
Please only use this number and only at the assigned times for bookings to help us manage visits.

Stay Safe,

Sophia Markwell,
General Manager

Visitor Screening Update

by

The NSW government has updated its guidance for visitors, so we have implemented its new guidelines. These no longer are based on your suburb, but on a range of common sense factors. Read them here.

As before, to book, call any day on (0401) 472 926 between 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm only and tell us your preferred date and time. Alternatively, send an SMS to this number.

As you can see from the calendar below, we’re open to visitors on Saturday 31st October and then on the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 14th and 15th of November.

See you soon!

Steady as she goes…

by

Updated – please see our latest post here…

We’re continuing to keep a watchful eye on the “State of the Virus”, while we carefully open up to visitors. As you can see from the calendar, we’re open to visitors on Saturday 31st October and then on the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 14th and 15th of November.

As before, to book, call any day on (0401) 472 926 between 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm only and tell us your preferred date and time. Alternatively, send an SMS to this number.

As you’ll understand, we need to comply with NSW Health  Advice, as per this notice [ link] , which unfortunately excludes visitors from some suburbs, such as Lakemba, Liverpool, Bayside, Randwick and Camden Local Government Areas (full list of excluded suburbs here). Use of public transport is not recommended.

Book a Visit

by

We’re excited to further increase our visitor hours. This coming week, we’re open for visits on Sunday 18th, Thursday 22nd and Saturday 24th of October.
In the following week, the days are Sunday 25th, Tuesday 27th, Wednesday 28th and Saturday 31st as well as Sunday 1st of November.

As before, to book, call any day on (0401) 472 926 between 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm only and tell us your preferred date and time. Alternatively, send an SMS to this number.

Now that physical visits are practical once more, we’re phasing out our managed phone/video calls and booking them will cease on 23 October. However, if you live out of the area or are a vulneral person yourself and cannot leave the house to visit ATV, please call us with a special request for a phone or video call.

As you’ll understand, we need to comply with NSW Health  Advice, as per this notice [ link] , which unfortunately excludes visitors from some suburbs, such as Lakemba, Liverpool, Bayside, Randwick and Camden Local Government Areas (full list of excluded suburbs here). Use of public transport is not recommended.

Stay Safe,

Sophia Markwell,
General Manager

Visitors!

by

As you know, Abel Tasman has been reviewing a limited opening of our facility to visitors on a weekly basis. 

This week, we can announce some changes! This is great news… but we are still restricted according to Local Government Area hot-spots after advice from the NSW Dept of Health and our peak advisory body ACSA. 

So unfortunately family and friends who have visited selected Local Government Areas in the last 14 days are still restricted from visiting the Abel Tasman Village (see listing below).

But we are happy to announce that for eligible visitors, we are implementing the following schedule starting this week:

  • Opening 2 days per week, on rotating days on weekdays and weekends between the hours of  1.00 and 5.00 pm. This week, those days will be Sunday 4th and Tuesday 6th of October.
  • We can accommodate a maximum of 2 people for a one hour visit in the Resident’s room only.
  • In order to reduce congestion visitors will need to book their visit online with arrivals staggered at 10 minute intervals in order to allow staff to conduct the necessary screening process and escorting. [update: for this week ( 4,6 October), we will operate on 15 minute intervals]
  • Booking must be made at the latest by 12pm on the requested day of visit. The last appointment available is at 4:10 for a visit finishing at 5.00PM.
  • Please be aware of social distancing whilst waiting to access the facility outside the gate and remember hand hygiene and mask etiquette for your visit. Of course we would appreciate your timely arrival according to your booking to help us facilitate your visit.

Our Book a Visit page will go live tomorrow (Saturday 3/10/2020).

You will appreciate that the above limitations are imposed on us by the NSW Department of Health.

Stay Safe,
Sophia Markwell,
General Manager.

Restricted Areas (click for map): Campbelltown LGA, Liverpool LGA and Parramatta LGA

Another week

by

Another week where staff went out of their way to assist our residents at an extraordinary time. I want to especially recognise those staff today. Many have close relatives overseas or interstate. While at the Village, the lock-down has meant going out of their way to keep our residents safe, healthy and entertained despite many challenges. Thank you!

Another week of looking forward to a gradual opening up of visits to Abel Tasman. Thankfully the signs are good, but we’ll need to wait for clearance from the authorities to open to visitors again. As we said last week, there is always the opportunity to allow visits in hardship cases. Talk to us where necessary.

Another week where our electronic communication facilities have improved. Our recent connection to the NBN has settled down and now offers a better connection for those of you connecting via old or new technologies. We have also begun a project to further improve communication facilities at the Village.

Stay Safe,

Sophia Markwell,
General Manager

Fathers Day

by

Thank you to everyone for being so supportive and patient. The temporary ‘lock down’ will be reviewed next week.

The survey we put out last week has given us some valuable feedback. If you have not had a chance to complete it, it is still available, and we would really value your comments. Here is the Form.

We are currently in the process of switching over to the NBN network. The inevitable teething
problem with the roll out hopefully will not be too long. I would like to apologise in advance for the inconvenient caused.

Happy Fathers Day,

Sophia Markwell,
General Manager

This category is for any individual who enters the aged care system under the full
regulations of the new program.

This category covers individuals who entered the system during the transition period after the initial announcement but before the new system fully begins.

This category is for those who were already engaged with the existing system prior
to the major legislative changes being announced.