Three Australian Army personnel have won hearts and minds by helping overworked staff at an aged-care home in Cardiff Heights this week.
Arnold Tammekand, a manager at Groves House, said the three Army Corps members - who came from Darwin - had been "fantastic".
"They're just brilliant. The staff rave about them," Mr Tammekand said.
The deployment was part of a federal project involving 1700 defence personnel helping deal with staff shortages and COVID outbreaks in the aged-care sector.
Mr Tammekand said the army members did cleaning, put linen away, delivered food and allowed staff to focus on the residents.
"Staff have been able to concentrate purely on providing the best possible care for the residents," he said.
"It's allowed them to get their breath back."
He said the army members even helped with a couple of residents having a dispute.
"They didn't get in a fight because of these guys being there," he said.
Groves House, which has 56 residents, hasn't lost anyone due to COVID.
Mr Tammekand described this as "a miracle".
"I've been in management for over 30 years and we have the most dedicated, unbelievable staff I've ever come across. They work for each other.
"I had a registered nurse recently work 22 hours on a Sunday because there was nobody else to come in to provide medication."
The staff work long hours.
"They do double shifts. They stay back from the morning shift to 6pm or 8pm, when they should be knocking off about 3pm.
"The effort they've put in is unbelievable."
Mr Tammekand said the centre had "a number of staff off work at one stage".
"We normally have nine staff, plus managers, per day shift. Two weekends ago we had only four staff. That's all that was available," he said.
A two-week lockdown at Groves House was lifted on Monday.
"We started with three residents testing positive. Then another three were positive over the next couple of days," he said.
He said a lockdown had to occur when more than two positive cases emerged.
Mr Tammekand said 11 staff were off at one point due to COVID.
"I couldn't staff the place at all. I heard you can apply to the army and they'll consider sending people out," he said.
He had also heard that Hunter aged-care homes hadn't been getting any help through the defence force program.
Mr Tammekand wondered whether anybody had actually sought help.
"People said there's no point. I said, 'Well, I'll ask the question'. So I asked the question and bang I got them."
Mr Tammekand spoke to the commander of the army members to inform him the aged-care home was due to emerge from lockdown.
The commander told him the army members would stay a bit longer.
"He said, 'I remember talking to you about how tired your staff are. We're sending these people to cover you while you're locked down, but also to give your staff some relief'."
Mr Tammekand said this meant a lot to him and the staff.
In honour of fallen soldiers and respect for the three army members, an Anzac Day service was held at Groves House on Thursday.
He said the Anzac service was "little but lovely".
There were hymns, prayers and an acknowledgement of country.
"The Cardiff RSL brought a portable flag, the residents laid wreaths and there were lovely speeches by the RSL guys.
"The army guys stood out front for the solemn stuff. I thanked them greatly for their help here.
"They're friends and colleagues now, not just Army Corps, given the work they've done around here."
