Date: 2 June 2017

Federal Member for Page, Kevin Hogan, and not-for-profit aged care provider The Whiddon Group today announced 73 new aged care places in the Far North Coast Region. Whiddon has been awarded 50 new aged care places for the Yamba area and 23 for Kyogle as part of the competitive aged care funding round.

Whiddon’s Chief Executive Officer Chris Mamarelis expressed his delight at the allocation of new residential places for the Far North Coast region, saying that the new places will go a long way to meet the growing need for residential care in the area as well as enabling Whiddon to grow the services offered in these communities and build on strong foundations in the area.

“The new places and opportunity to improve access to aged care in these regions comes as very welcome news to our organisation and will enable us to continue to support and care for older people and their families across the Far North Coast”.

“With the role of being a care services provider in these communities comes the responsibility to ensure we are meeting the needs of local people, and this includes ensuring that there are sufficient care options in the towns and regions they call home. Enabling older people to stay living in the communities they know and love is at the very heart of our ethos, and these new aged care places will support us to do just that”.

“As we will see shortly when our new home opens in Grafton, these new residential places not only mean access to care but also a significant number of new employment opportunities for local people and a temporary boost to construction related roles while the building project is underway,” he said.

With the new places now allocated, Whiddon is able to further progress with planning for aged care development in the region. Whiddon looks forward to extending our services and supporting older people and their families in the Yamba community.

Whiddon’s planning for the 23 new places in Kyogle is pending the announcement of the Building Better Regions Fund in the coming months, as securing funding to support the Kyogle development is critical for the organisation.

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