$1 million in funding has been provided to Yallambee Lodge to help with its transition to new owners. Photo: Gail Eastaway.
An aged care service in the Snowy Monaro region will benefit from $1 million in Federal Government funding.
In February, Snowy Monaro Regional Council (SMRC) resolved to transfer Yallambee Lodge to Respect Aged Care as part of its plans to divest from aged care services.
Respect Aged Care was awarded the government funding through the Market Adjustment Program (MAP), an invite-only program that provides funding to assist aged care providers avoid untimely service closures and assist with transfer of critical services to new providers.
Member for Eden-Monaro Kristy McBain welcomed the funding.
“I have listened to the Snowy Monaro community and I’m so proud to be delivering this funding to keep our aged care beds local.
“This funding will also provide meaningful relief to council’s budget so it can focus on core business.”
SMRC Mayor Chris Hanna said the funding secured the future of 40 places at the facility.
“It has saved ratepayers $500,000 over the next 12 months, because that’s what we’d budgeted, but overall the Federal Government has given us $1 million to the divestment,” he said.
“It is a very positive outcome because it has kept those 40 beds in our region that council could not afford to keep operating.
“That has allowed the residents of Yallambee to be able to stay there and know that council didn’t have to close that facility down.”
Mr Hanna said the funding meant council could re-evaluate elements of its budget.
“If we didn’t get that $1 million, there would have been a number of service cuts [to SMRC services], because council just couldn’t afford to do everything,” he said.
“Getting that half a million back into the budget has put back onto the table services that we were going to cut. We’ve got the money sitting there now.”
SMRC was working with aged care provider Sapphire Coast Community Aged Care (SCCAC) with a view that SCCAC would eventually take over operations of the facility, but that arrangement fell through.
Respect ultimately took over operation of the facility this year.
“Council has [since] divested all of aged care, so we have no residential aged care within our portfolio anymore,” Mr Hanna said.
“Respect has been operating Yallambee for about two months now. It’s been a great transition.
“It’s been 100 per cent handed over to them and they’ve taken a majority of the [existing] staff on.”
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