Long-term future

By MaraPattison-Sowden
THE WARBURTON church wants to develop long-term plans for the sustainability of AdventCare Yarra Ranges, despite aging facilities and less residents.
The move follows a meeting where the Warburton congregation of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church was reassured by AdventCare management that the facility would not close by the actions of the company.
Natural deaths have been outstripping the number of residents going into the facility, and numbers have dropped from 50 to 30 in the last few years.
Under aged care legislation, management made residents aware of the situation before anyone else.
Residents were told on 8 March they would not be asked to move out, but there would come a time when the facility would no longer be commercially viable.
The Warburton congregation had stood up in opposition to AdventCare’s proposal to “wind down operations” at the Warburton facility, saying numbers had dropped when admissions became centralised, and had refused to meet with management until this month.
The meeting on Thursday 2 June was the first time the Warburton church board had met with the AdventCare board of management, and spoken about conditions at the Warburton facility.
The boards made a joint resolution that AdventCare Yarra Ranges would not close by the actions of the AdventCare board, a message that has been communicated to residents since March.
Warburton’s senior minister Pastor Richard Araya-Bishop said it was a positive meeting that gave a positive commitment from AdventCare.
“It was reassuring to have that meeting and know the members of the (AdventCare) board are keen to keep it open,” he said.
AdventCare executive director Ruth Welling said she was concerned there had still been insecurities among staff and residents at the facility.
“Our immediate plans are to keep focused on the residents and staff and to continue carrying on as a business for as long as possible,” she said.
“The Directors of AdventCare acknowledge the historical part the local church has played in establishing the facility and its passion in wanting to see the facility as an ongoing concern.”
Ms Welling had previously said the commitment to stay in the Yarra Valley was evident by efforts to search for a block of land to rebuild.
“The current facility does not meet building requirements and the land that the current aged-care facility is sitting on is not suitable for rebuilding,” she said.
She said the 100-bed Yarra Junction facility had been bought two years ago in order to cater for the entire Yarra Valley, with an extra 50 beds to be built by 2013.
“This is in keeping to the promise we made our residents that we will not move them out of the valley,” she said.
The facility had not sacked staff despite the declining numbers, but in the last month seven staff have taken voluntary redundancies but will stay on as casual staff.
In the last month there has been one new resident admission and several transfers to other facilities including the AdventCare facility in Yarra Junction.