STAFF and residents at Amaroo Village in Western Australia have celebrated the opening of the new Buckley Caring Centre.
The 74-bed aged care home in Gosnells was officially opened by the WA Governor Kerry Sanderson.
The new building replaces the original Buckley Caring Centre, which was Amaroo's initial flagship residential aged care facility, for residents with low-care needs.
"We decided to demolish the existing 1980s independent living units, which had had several extensions and add-ons over time, and build a new more efficient facility in its place," Amaroo Village chief executive David Fenwick said.
He said that over the years with a shift in resident care needs, history shows that older Australians prefer to remain in their homes for longer and there was now a "very high demand" for residential care.
"With the shift in lower care needs being provided in the home this has resulted in residential care now being at a much higher level than was previously experienced. As a result this has presented challenges to Buckley Caring Centre in being able to accommodate this shift in care needs and has provided many challenges in providing high care in essentially what was designed and built for low care," he said.
Marking the first stage of the Buckley Caring Centre, the new facility features two 36-bed blocks in pods of six beds over two levels.
There is also a new laundry and kitchen with the capacity to cater for up to 200 meals every meal time, to provide for possible future demands in other areas.
Work is now underway on stage two of the development, with significant refurbishment to the Karri Wing with a redesigned layout enabling an appropriate dementia specific area offering 36 places.
There will also be minor refurbishment to Jarrah Wing, built in 2002.
Mr Fenwick said feedback to the new facility had been "very positive".
Amaroo Village offers independent retirement accommodation, in-home services for seniors as well as residential aged care.
Phone (08) 9490 3899, www.amaroovillage.com.au
