With a “tidal wave” of baby boomers expected to put pressure on the aged-care sector over the next 30 years, Warrnambool’s Lyndoch Living is positioning itself to meet the expected demand.
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It this week unveiled ambitious plans for the site – a four-stage $100 million master plan which will be implemented over the next eight to 10 years.
Those plans include a medical hub, new dementia wing, another 84 villas and turning the original building into apartments.
There are also plans to host a community market and cafe pop-up along its waterfront.
And while there is already a hairdresser and cafe in the foyer, in the next few weeks they will open a traditional-style barber’s shop followed by a beauty and make-up bar.
In December, May Noonan hostel and its 40 residents in Terang became part of Lyndoch and there are plans to make improvements to that facility too.
For Lyndoch chief executive officer Doreen Power, the changes are about bringing a buzz back to the facility,
“You come in and it’s not like a nursing home. It’s the wow factor.” she said. “It’s about living and living well.
“It’s about future proofing it. We’ve got to have nice facilities. I’ve only got two or three rooms that are joined with shared bathrooms. That’s just not acceptable any more.”
Ms Power said there were exciting things happening in aged care. “As a health service we’ve got to become really innovative about how we are looking after our elders because the baby boomers have arrived and they’re not wanting the old traditional-style of care.”
Looking toward the future
Lyndoch opened 66 years ago as a 12-bed hostel on the banks of the Hopkins River and today it is home to 198 residents.
It employs 485 staff and a team of 180 volunteers to cater for the residents and the 1000 or more community clients who access services there.
The original building which was opened in 1952 will undergo a refurbishment as part of the master plan.
While it currently houses respite rooms, a chapel and pool table, it will eventually be converted into two apartments.
The renovation will be in keeping with its historical character which features pressed tin and wood-paneled walls.
The building overlooks the Hopkins River, and Ms Power plans to used its waterfront to host a community market.
$100m master plan unveiled
Work on the $15 million refurbishment and extension of its Swinton wing is expected to begin in March and once finished will be home to 43 high-care patients, 27 of which will be dementia patients relocated from the Tomlinson residence next door.
The Tomlinson buildings will then be demolished to make way for a $17 million multi-level medical hub housing up to 22 doctors, a pharmacy, pathology lab, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, diabetic educators, dietitians, visiting specialists and possibly a radiology department.
The one-stop shop for medical services would also include a cafe.
Warrnambool Medical Clinic will relocate its practice there when it is completed in about two years, although some doctors may move their earlier.
Having an aged-care facility and medical practice with allied health services on the one site is a unique concept in Victoria with only one other like it located in Melbourne.
Dr Phil Hall said the move to Lyndoch would help both health facilities prepare for the tsunami of change that was coming to aged care and the primary health care sector.
“It won’t just be an aged-care clinic. It will be what we’re doing now plus enhancing the role of Lyndoch, Dr Hall said.
He said that for residents it meant there would be doctors on site so they wouldn’t have to wait until the end of the day or until a doctor had time to go out to Lyndoch to visit.
“Warrnambool is going to become a retirement hub. Everywhere’s going to become a retirement hub because there’s a tidal wave of baby boomers coming,” he said.
“You need to be able to deal with that coming tsunami of change.”
Dr Hall said having the corporate backing of Lyndoch would bring opportunities for more medical training projects.
The move to a bigger facility would also allow the clinic to employ more doctors.
“In terms of being responsive to what’s happening in primary health care over the next 10, 20, 30 years, it puts us in the box seat. The aging of the population is a big part of that. But our emphasis isn’t just on aged care,” he said.
He said the clinic would still cater to its current and future patients through all stages of life.
Ms Power said the vision of the master plan, which was completed in 2016, was moving Lyndoch Living away from being and aged-care facility to being a health precinct.
She said having a GP clinic on site was not just for the residents but for the community. “Part of the vision for the master plan is bringing the community in,” she said.
“This is unique. This is innovative. It’s probably going to challenge people.”
Ms Power said the development could lead to Lyndoch supporting Warrnambool’s hospital in the future.
“If I’ve got GPs that are working on a Saturday, especially with the sports, if we have radiology they can actually come here instead of clogging up the ED,” she said.
Stages three and four of the master plan are focused on retirement and assisted living and includes construction of 84 new villas where the front car park is now located.
Ms Power said completing the master plan in four stages allowed it to keep up with changes in government policy and regulations. “I don’t want to be building something that is outdated and just isn’t going to meet the needs,“ she said. “We can be flexible.”
Giving back to the community
Ms Power said Lyndoch wanted to be a leader in the industry by providing a whole range of aged-care services.
She said Lyndoch was a big part of the community and that was why it sponsored programs such as the Standing Tall mentoring program and the Great South Coast Leadership project.
“I truly believe in it. We’ve got to give back,” she said. “We’ve really looked at our social purpose, so giving back to the community and, yes, I do have public beds.”
Lyndoch runs programs which bring the young and old together.
Ms Power said she was looking to bring trishaws to Lyndoch and have secondary school students volunteer to transport the residents around town.
Other inter-generational programs involve bringing in primary school students to spend time the the residents.
Ms Power said that when the grade five and six students had breakfast with the residents, it was “beautiful to watch”.
“The residents, they are up ready dressed waiting. This is a high dementia unit. No other morning are they up. It’s awesome,” she said.
Ms Power said she was also looking to connect with secondary schools to employ year 11 and 12 students during school holidays to give them a glimpse into the career opportunities within the industry.
She said having Warrnambool artist Jimmi Buscombe on site to paint murals on the walls had been a big success.
“We actually had people come in to look at the murals. This is a home so we can’t actually have people just walking through,” she said.
That’s one of the reasons she had some of the artwork done outside the building. “I want to open the doors to Lyndoch to the community,” she said. “There’s so much going on.”
A taste for new business ideas
Developing food products to meet the nutritional needs of the elderly is another innovative project Lyndoch Living has embarked on.
In a joint venture with Hamilton-based Waltanna Farms, Lyndoch has created a range of foods that they plan to sell to other health facilities.
Lyndoch chief executive officer Doreen Power said the Waltanna Living products were already available in some Warrnambool shops.
“It’s a food project, and it’s a business and we’re looking at how we can be sustainable into the future,” Ms Power said. “It’s about us being innovative in this space. We’re not just an old people’s home.”
Products developed include gluten-free and high-protein biscuits as well as a muesli made with hemp and flaxseed which has just been given the green tick by the food industry.
“It increases the protein. So rather than those horrible drinks you can have, they can have a biscuit, a choc-chip cookie that’s got the flax and lots of hemp protein in it,” Ms Power said.
