The Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth is planning a new aged care facility in Greater Western Sydney that will be the first of its kind in the country when completed in 2025. Source: Catholic Outlook.
The two-storey, $30 million complex will house 60 residents on the congregation’s Marayong site. The facility, offered through the Sisters’ company Holy Family Services, has been designed to exceed the requirements of the Albanese Government’s new national aged care design principles and guidelines.
Holy Family Services chief executive Alasdair Croydon said this would mean instead of the old hospital-style buildings, residents would now live in an environment more akin to a house, with individual ensuite rooms, shared lounge and dining areas and access to fresh air and the outdoors.
“We have a building that we completely redesigned and it’s not like any other aged care building in Australia at the moment,” he said.
Each floor of the new building will be divided into two “houses” with no more than 15 residents in each.
“This will make it feel more like a community, where residents can connect more easily with each other,” Mr Croydon said.
“We know from studies that if a resident with an assistive device, a walker, has to walk more than 20 metres, they won’t go,” he said. “So these houses would be built with the common areas within that 20-metre distance from each room.”
Another feature will include central kitchens, featuring high-end appliances, which families and residents can use to cook their own meals.
Mr Croydon said most residents had lived in their own houses for up to 50 years, so when it came time to move into aged care, they wanted the same household feel and the same connection with other people.
Holy Family Services director of mission Sr Grace Roclawska CSFN said the community-centred design of the new building is emblematic of the work of the sisters since they arrived at the Marayong site 70 years ago.
“The community experience in aged care that we’re aiming for, it’s actually been lived here since the beginning,” she said.
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Building for the future: How Holy Family Services is moving with the times (By Antony Lawes, Catholic Outlook)
