Up until recently, Nowra resident Janelle Burnes’ cousin was a Rose Mumbler resident for around five months. 

However, earlier this month she was taken to hospital where Ms Burnes said she was treated for dehydration and undernourishment. 

While she said her cousin will not be returning to Rose Mumbler and alternative care arrangements will be made, Ms Burnes is still concerned over the treatment of her cousin during her stay in the aged care facility. 

After her cousin broke her femur in Sydney last year, Ms Burnes said she talked her cousin’s brother, Donald Jackson, into moving the 58-year-old to Rose Mumbler. 

“It used to be a beautiful retirement village and my cousin has multiple disabilities so I thought it would be a good place for her,” Ms Burnes said. 

Ms Burnes said her cousin can’t walk or communicate well and has limited vision and hearing. 

While she said the majority of the staff at Rose Mumbler provided good care, Ms Burnes was concerned over the treatment of her cousin by two staff members. 

She said she had seen the two staff members treat her cousin “roughly”, causing stress and anxiety for her cousin. 

“One of them would pick her up roughly, not using much care at all,” Ms Burnes said. 

She also said one of the staff members took her cousin’s personal alarm system. 

“My cousin had a fall from her bed in July and she said she was last checked at 1am but she was found until 6.30am at changeover,” Ms Burnes said. 

“She couldn’t go anything because she didn’t have her alarm.” 

The 58-year-old sustained a shoulder injury in the fall. 

Ms Burnes said a meeting was held last month with Rose Mumbler’s registered nurse, chief executive officer Coral Yuke, an independent registered nurse and an advocate from the Aging and Disability Unit.

“The main thing I wanted to see come out of that meeting was that those two staff are not to work with my cousin at all,” Ms Burnes said. 

“Instead, they said because of staffing they could not take these people off so it was changed to either of the staff can work with her, but they have to be with another worker, not together."

Ms Burnes said she also asked for residents to be involved in more activities such as shopping, beach trips and visits from local school students. 

Rose Mumbler village manager John Bolt said the centre’s registered nurse ensured all staff acted appropriately and residents were well-cared for. 

“The RN is in charge of guiding the workers each day and she watches them and if they’re doing anything wrong she will talk to them,” he said. 

Mr Bolt said the alarm system Ms Burnes said was taken had never been reported missing.

While he’d like to see further activities for the residents, there were procedures that needed to be followed first. 

“It’s an aged care centre, there’s a lot of policies and procedures you have to abide by,” he said. 

“You can’t just do everything the families want, there has be procedures followed.”

Rose Mumbler was contacted for comment regarding the departure of Ms Burnes’ cousin from the facility, however had not responded by time of publication.