Presbyterian Support Otago chief executive officer Jo Rowe said financial costs increased significantly, while some residents’ mobility and cognition declined.
"Some didn’t recognise their family members when visiting recommenced," Ms Rowe said.
The rising cost of personal protective equipment (PPE) and having to pay additional staff hours so they could work safely in bubbles was expensive, she said.
PSO has three care homes in Dunedin — Ross Home, Taieri Court and St Andrews.
Days before Alert Level 4 was announced, many of the city’s rest and retirement homes had already gone into their own lockdown or restricted access to the public.
It was a fearful time for many of the staff, families and residents, Ms Rowe said.
"There were lots of reports coming from overseas about people dying by the hundreds in residential care," Ms Rowe said.
"Many aged-care residents were very afraid this would happen to them."
Two years on, PSO care homes were still struggling with staffing shortages and financial pressures.
Retaining qualified nurses was hard due to the lack of pay parity with district health boards, and border closures cut the flow of the qualified overseas nurses the sector needed, Ms Rowe said.
In a bid to keep Covid-19 out of homes, access was restricted and visitors and staff had to wear a mask.
Most care homes had some staff test positive, so there was ongoing work to ensure rosters were filled.
"We are doing our best to ensure staffing issues impact on our residents as little as possible.
"Staff are tired and feeling quite burnt out and we are supporting them in every way possible to navigate this wave of the pandemic."
