Boandik Lodge has just announced it has made the “difficult decision” to defer construction on its Ridland Villas Dementia Village.
Chief executive officer Gillian McGinty said the focus of Boandik’s Dementia Project was now set on increasing the financial resources available for the project through grant applications, fundraising activities and continued good governance of their existing operations.
“The Dementia Village project has been to tender and Boandik has worked with the architect and builder over the past few months to review the design and identify savings,” Ms McGinty said.
“However, the high price of building materials, the cost and shortage of skilled labour and the innovative design have resulted in a build cost that is not within Boandik’s financial resources.”
Ms McGinty said the decision comes after a challenging two years.
“Operating during a pandemic with a vulnerable client group and strict regulations continues to be challenging for Boandik,” she said.
“We are subject to significant legislative requirements that have been increased due to the Royal Commission into Residential Aged Care with many other changes planned.
“The funding system for residential aged care is flawed and has not kept up with increases in costs for many years with the nationwide shortage of skilled healthcare staff having a greater impact in regional areas than in the city.”
Ms McGinty said as a not-for-profit community-based organisation, Boandik always had a focus on innovation and expansion to meet the needs of the community whilst ensuring long term sustainability.
“Boandik made a commitment in their strategic plan in 2016 to expand their services by incorporating accommodation that was designed for people living with dementia,” she said.
“The past five years have been spent researching, writing grant applications and designing an innovative and interesting design for the Ridland Villas Dementia Village.
“Boandik is committed to this project and will deliver an innovative dementia village for our community in coming years.”
