The Western Care Lodge is still open for those western patients and their carers that need it, but with stricter conditions upon entrance for patients and care workers amid the coronavirus.
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Facility chairman John Carpenter said the lodge is complying with all the government regulations to ensure the health of the patients and staff.
"The people who stay at the lodge are immunocompromised because of their radiation or chemotherapy treatments at the Orange Health Service and if someone does come to the facility, they are required to fill out a questionnaire before entering the lodge," he said.
"We are advising visitors to stay at home and not visit family members because the risk of someone infected with COVID-19 could compromise the facility and may temporarily shut it down.
"Quite often we have guests who go back home and we have advised them to uphold the same restrictions to keep themselves and their family safe."
As some of the residents are receiving cancer treatment which can last up to four to six weeks, Mr Carpenter said the social distancing conditions are to protect the guests and the staff.
"While at the lodge, we have advised guests to stay in their rooms and not engage with other people as a precautionary measure to minimise the risk of spreading the virus," he said.
"We have supplied guests with a thermometer, asked them to temperature check at least twice a day and if they feel any COVID-19 symptoms or any other symptoms to take themselves to the hospital."
The Western Care Lodge has 20 rooms available and the facility has been designed for patients to engage with the communal space, but that has changed with the social distancing restrictions.
The large kitchen and dining spaces is now not operational and the lodge has invested in basic kitchen equipment for residents to make meals in their rooms.
"We have supplied microwaves for each room so people are still able to make meals," Mr Carpenter said.
"This isn't a preferred choice for the guests to cook in their rooms as we would rather have people utilise the kitchen space but we can't allow that at this time."
Mr Carpenter said the guests are grateful the lodge is still open to help them with the treatment and have undertaken the added health and safety precautions.
"We haven't had any complaints from guests for taking extreme steps," he said.
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