Lithgow aged care provider Three Tree Lodge is in the midst of a major expansion that will add an extra eight beds for residents with dementia.
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However the organisation has further plans to expand and introduce a dementia day centre as well as emergency respite services.
These additions will address the needs of people living with dementia in the wider community. According to Three Tree Lodge approximately 365 Lithgow residents are living with dementia.
The further expansion, titled Melaleuca Place, will require just over $1 million of funding to be constructed.
According to information released by Three Tree Lodge, it has the resources and staff to run the new services but simply needs the money to get the building off the ground.
Representatives of Three Tree Lodge including CEO Kate Hurrell took the opportunity to raise these plans with the Federal Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt during his visit to the facility on Tuesday.
“There’s a real lack of day centre facilities and other non-residential facilities for people living with dementia within about 40 k’s of Lithgow,” Mrs Hurrell said.
“We know for people who care for people at home with dementia, the need for respite both day respite and respite overnight in emergency is really critical.
“We see this as a vital piece of infrastructure for Lithgow.”
When asked about the development, Minister Wyatt was positive.
“I like what they’re proposing, a day facility that will allow people living in the community with dementia to come here, spend some time here while their other half tends to their needs as well because carers do need a break,” he said.
“It’s a great idea and a great way for a community to be cared for.
“The amount they’re asking for is not a significant amount.”
Minister Wyatt said he made it a priority to focus on aged care in regional areas when he came into his current role.
“When you take people out of a country town and you start shifting one person at a time, the town diminishes,” he said.
“Taking an aged care facility out of any country town is like taking a school or a police station or a bank out because they’re the people that make up this place.”
However the minister would not comment on how likely Three Tree was to receive the required funding.
“We give $18.7 billion to aged care right across the nation so there are some pressure points in different parts of Australia as well.
“I hope that we can but I never promise because it has to be against a whole raft of other applications across the nation.”
Member for Calare Andrew Gee said he has given Three Tree’s expansion plans and desires for funding his full support.
“I’m very supportive of Three Tree Lodge and the work that they do here and so I’ve had a couple of briefings now on that project and I’m right behind it,” Mr Gee said.
“We can’t rest on our laurels just because we’ve had some success in the short term. We’ve still got longer term projects that we need to be working on and that is certainly one of them, so I’m very keen to pursue that.”