Forty elderly people living in the rural area of Murchison Victoria have begun a desperate search for a new home after being told that the small towns only nursing home had been placed into administration and will be closing.
Staff, residents and their families of the DP Jones Aged Care facility were called into a meeting in early October and told by the volunteer-based operators Murchison Community Care that the facility was facing serious financial problems.
Murchison is a small town which is located on the Goulburn River and has a population just shy of 1000 people.
The closest option for residents and staff looking for a new facility is located 30 minutes away in the town of Shepparton, which leaves little options for the 40 residents and 70 staff members who will be looking for employment.
A community action group is urging the federal government to step in and provide financial support for the not-for-profit home, claiming it is essential to the well being of elderly people in the local community.
Financial records show that DP Jones Aged Care had an income of $3.1 million in 2018 with a list of expenses that totalled $3.5 million.
DP Jones Aged Care has been operating in the town of Murchison for 40 years and both residents and staff have grown to love the facility and the community environment.
One gentleman whose mother-in-law lives in the facility told Shepparton News that he chose the DP Jones over other facilities in neighbouring towns because he felt that it was “really impressive.”
While a woman who has both her mother and father living at the facility was feeling stressed at the prospect of relocating her parents and questioning how things managed to get to this current position of uncertainty.
Melbourne based administrators SV Partners took over the facility earlier in the month after the financial crisis had reached a boiling point and have since put the home up for expressions of interest.
Unfortunately, there had been no interest from anyone looking to operate the facility and that period of time has now come and gone.
There is currently no official timeline for exactly when the facility would close its doors and the facility will accommodate residents for as long as they need to be able to find new accommodation that is suitable for their needs.
Only one resident has moved so far.
It is very sad to see yet another small, community based provider closing its doors. Even though the evidence is clear that funding is grossly inadequate, we still see no action from the Federal Govt. Every other day now it seems a home is closing its doors, and the Aged Care Community in Australia is worse off for it. Thanks guys for reporting on this, as I think it is really important for people to see just how badly this is affecting us all.
It seems once again the rural and regional areas are losing out.
so people will be moved and again the government does nothing to assist.
It will be like warehouses the aged into a large facility in bigger cities.
A great loss for the rural and regional towns.