Life is returning to some semblance of normality at local rest homes and retirement villages.
Summerset Falls manager Mike Wharepouri says the majority of the village is returning to normal, but there are still some restrictions around the care centre, where the more vulnerable residents live.
There is also some limitation in this area on the number of visitors at any one time.
“Everyone was pretty over it by the end of the last lockdown,” Wharepouri says.
“The village now offers around 60 different weekly activities, which is putting a smile back on residents’ faces. The dinners and happy hours have also been reinstated.”
Wharepouri says there were no outbreaks at the home, although there were some isolated cases of covid within the village, contracted outside the village.
Like most places, Summerset has also had to manage staff cases of covid, but this has not presented too many difficulties.
“We’re slowly heading back to normal and people are enjoying a lot more freedom again.”
Mask use was encouraged throughout the village, which currently has 360 residents.
Amberlea Hospital and Rest Home was limiting visitors to one at a time, although any time limit on the visits had been removed.
Its main challenge was staffing. Not only was it proving difficult to recruit new staff, rosters were being juggled when existing staff had to self-isolate. This meant reducing occupancy levels in the interim.
