Emotional day as residents at Leeds care home with no Covid outbreaks get first jabs

Marilouise Bree, director of Alexandra Court care home in West Park, said there was a party atmosphere as the home's residents and 16 of the 22 staff members got their first Oxford-AstraZeneca jab on Saturday.

Marilouise said: "It was a really emotional day. When that first needle went in for the first vaccination, it wasn't just me that was crying - most of the staff were teary eyed.

"There was an overwhelming feeling of relief, because the residents know that in a few months they may finally be able to hug their loved ones after almost a year of no physical contact with them.

"It was just like a party atmosphere. We were passing round boxes of chocolates.

"We must be one of the very few care homes not to have had any infections since this began.

"That is down to the staff following all the infection control regulations. I'm so proud of them, what a team."

And Marilouise thanked Matron Liz Davies, of Burton Croft Surgery, Headingley, for going the extra mile to ensure residents got their jabs.

Liz, who lives in York, stayed in a hotel in Leeds on Thursday and Friday night as she was concerned heavy snowfall at the end of last week may have stopped her from travelling to the care home to head up the team delivering the vaccines.

Marilouise said staff at Burton Croft Surgery have been supporting Alexandra Court throughout the pandemic.

She said: "Matron Liz Davies was worried that she wouldn't be able to get home and back so she stayed in a hotel to make sure she could be here.

"One of her colleagues told me about it and I was just lost for words that someone would do that for us."

Mum of two Marilouise, 37, said the home has been in lockdown since early March 2020, two weeks before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the national lockdown.

She said: "We stopped all visitors coming in, unless it was essential, like doctors and nurses.

"That was the first thing that saved us. Lots of other care homes started getting outbreaks.

"We just kept hearing horror stories about care homes in Leeds.

"Doctors and nurses that visited us were saying other care homes they visited had Covid outbreaks. They were pretty amazed we hadn't had any.

"I couldn't sleep. I was beside myself with worry about it. It was all so new."

Marilouise said a resident suffered a fall in early April and was treated at St James's Hospital, where it is believed he contracted the virus.

She said the resident was asymptomatic, but continued to test positive for a number of weeks.

Marilouise said she would not allow the resident to return to the home until he had tested negative, adding: "I stuck to my guns and said 'he is not coming back in.'

"It was awful, it was something that has haunted me ever since. If I took him back we would have had an outbreak in Alexandra Court."

Marilouise said: "He tested negative after eight weeks. We all cheered him when he came back in."

She said two staff members tested positive during routine Covid tests in September. Both were asymptomatic and self isolated as per government guidelines.

Marilouise said it was an emotional moment when she was told on Monday January 11 that the vaccinations were to start at Alexandra Court on Saturday.

She said: "I cried. I was ecstatic. It was overhelming that finally there was some hope.

"These residents have been housebound for almost a year.

"The feeling that maybe in a few months they will be able to leave Alexandra Court and go and see their family members is just overwhelming. It makes my eyes fill up every time I think about it.

"We have got a visiting pod so the residents can see their families, but they can't have physical contact.

"The residents have been really stoic and have just got on with it. In the summer months it was easier because they could sit outside with family members.

"Morale dropped around September time. As soon as the visiting pod opened on October 1, they were really happy that they could see their families again."