Residential Home for the Elderly in Gibraltar has new Isolation Unit added in just Two Weeks

MOUNT ALVERNIA is a relatively old building which is run as a care home by the Gibraltar government to look after those who are near the end of their lives and are generally no longer capable of living alone.

Spurred on by the need to combat the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic, the government has taken over a residential building nearby and created in just two weeks a new Isolation Unit.

The building has been completely reconfigured and transformed into a four-bedded high dependency care facility with capacity for IV therapy, cardiac monitoring and non-invasive mechanic ventilation.

This additional facility has now increased Mount Alvernia’s isolation capacity to 16 beds, equal to 10 per cent of the home’s residential population and is important as one of the workers at the centre was recently diagnosed positive for the virus and one ward was put into isolation.

Minister for Health and Care, Paul Balban commented: “This is a real advantage for the future also as we will be able to provide medical care for our vulnerable elders here even after the Covid pandemic is over.”