The Vitalia Home Parque Alcosa residence yesterday denounced the “false information” that, they assure from the center, is transmitting in the media both relatives of users and former employees as a result of an outbreak of coronavirus for which they have become more infected of 80 majors , although at the moment, they affirm, “only 35 infections are counted”. The focus has claimed the lives of 12 residents, according to official sources, although relatives raise the figure to 16.
The management of the center yesterday showed in conversations with this medium their discomfort after public complaints by a group of relatives of elderly who are cared for in this residence about the alleged “atrocities”that would be taking place inside the building in the Sevillian neighborhood of Alcosa. To these are added the statements of a former worker , who assured this newspaper that he had requested voluntary resignation just four days after joining as a nursing assistant due to “the overload and stress with which one works there” and the “conditions unfortunate” in which the elders would be. This former employee assured that the residents “are sleeping in street clothes” and that “they can be sitting in a chair from when they get up until they go back to bed at eight in the evening.”
Some statements before which the director of the center, Maria Jose Castro, says he does not know “his reasons” since, he stresses, “in the center no one has filed any complaint” . Regarding the former workers, he considers that “they are probably due to the fact that they have not fit in well in the center.”
From a health point of view , the assistant told this newspaper that “the materials that the SAS indicates are necessary are not purchased”, as well as an alleged misuse of PPE, of which he affirms that “they are disinfected”, but not withdrawn to go from a Covid zone to a clean one or the “control” of the use of masks, gloves and other means of protection, having to “point down each time one is caught.” At this point, Castro underlines the “excellent” Attentiontowards the elderly by both the residence workers and the SAS health workers, given that the center is medicalized by the Board. “We are working hard, how could it be otherwise, to serve residents continuously, which is our only priority,” he says.
Likewise, sources from the center deny “some information regarding the outbreak” and assure that “all the protocols established by the health authorities are followed” , in addition to having their own plans to deal with the pandemic. “It is uncertain that there has been any type of lack when it comes to serving users. I understand the relatives because it is a very difficult situation for everyone, but the workers of the center are doing everything possible and the impossible, because in fact the outbreak has been contained for many months and the damage that this does to the workers is very important”, clarifies the person in charge of the asylum
. organizations for the elderly insist on “the risks” of keeping those infected inside the centers
Regarding the accusations made to Diario de Sevilla by a former worker and some relatives, he points out that “they do not adjust, at all, to reality” and defends the care of the elderly because it ensures that “the number of workers has more than tripled”, which are currently 80, “to serve the residents affected by Covid-19 in the best possible way and preserve the uninfected from contagion.” “Not only do they put their professionalism but they feel as their own the people who are there because they have been caring for them for a long time. It is very sad and very painful that the work of people who are giving everything to take care of it is questioned,” remark. They also underline that to date there would only be 35 positive users in the residence, “given that virus detection tests are carried out periodically and a good number of those infected have become negative.”
Faced with this situation, the center announces that it will undertake “the legal actions it deems appropriate”before “the false information that is being transferred to the media” and stresses that “the relatives of the residents are informed of the situation at all times.”
The Federation of Andalusian Organizations for the Elderly (FOAM) also ruled on this outbreak yesterday. Its president, Martin Duran , took advantage of the circumstances experienced in this center to once again insist on the “risks” of keeping those infected inside asylums with outbreaks . “What is happening in this center is one more example of the Ministry of Health still not learningon how to manage these incidents and continues to face them through the sectorization and medicalization of the centers, a methodology that does not give results, “he says.
The FOAM insists on denouncing that transferring the elderly infected to specialized spaces causes the outbreak to reach ” at least half” of the people in the nursing home and is committed to “evacuation to hotels or other spaces prepared for it.”
