Category: Reporting Results

We at the DCM Institute are committed to continue to provide industry specific tools, resources and support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to assist you in your day to day operations.

We want to understand what is working, what you are finding challenging and what solutions you require.

We have created an online survey to help the sector understand how village communities are navigating the changes required for the coronavirus.

The findings will be released back to you and used by us to build future tools and resources of support, and to help inform businesses, industries and governments on how they can provide services and support to benefit and improve the lives of older Australians and the village teams that support them.

Keep an eye out in your inbox, you will receive an email for the survey 5 minutes after receiving this newsletter.

Please, can I request you take 5 minutes to complete this short survey.

Reports from the field by the likes of Stockland are telling us that retirement village enquiry, reservations and settlements are up, compared to this time last year, by 10 to 15%. Is this your experience?

Villages that have a clear ‘home care’ support offer are doing particularly well.

Omega Communities in Adelaide, which is two villages that offer ‘family care’ (like private aged care) is consistently running at 95% occupancy. LDK Seniors Living in Canberra, a new village, is selling two new homes a week at over $800,000 each. (They have close to 400 to sell by the way).

They call their offer the ‘One Move Promise’ – their home care support means you will never have to move to an aged care home.

Check their website out HERE.

For your village, having a clear relationship with your local home care providers will help your sales as well. It’s a good idea to have at least a folder of local services like physiotherapists and even cleaners that you can show potential residents. Simple but effective.

Strong sales lifts everyone’s spirits.

‘New thinking’ is emerging at the Royal Commission into Aged Care, and retirement villages are looking good!

The Commissioners have developed a model and specifications for housing and support for ageing Australians in the last 10 to 15 years of life.

Senior Counsel Assisting Peter Gray QC (pictured above) stated in Adelaide this week that there are eight key ideas proposed by the Commissioners on how the aged care system should be fundamentally changed.

The whole push is to get in early and support people years before they get truly old and frail.

Make their homes better to live in so they don’t have falls etc. Guide them to look after themselves better, and earlier, by having companionship, getting out more, getting ahead of illness.

The Commissioners want a supportive pathway for older Australians to age. They wish to separate accommodation and care as costs to the government and that care will start very early concentrating on wellness and reablement, for which the government will contribute funds.

Here is part of the list; I suggest you think how ‘retirement villages’ can deliver these services:

• create a care stream for services delivered either in the home or in more flexible and less institutional forms of residential care
• move to individualised funding for care matched to need within the care stream, irrespective of setting
• streamline access to low intensity and cost-effective support services to support a large number of older people to retain their independence
• (the government to) fund interventions to help restore functioning, provide respite and delay or prevent progression to more intensive forms of care
• support older people and their families to understand the (aged care) system and get the services and care they need

Retirement villages provide separate accommodation. Village management can provide a ‘care concierge’. Villages can provide basic but good wellness centres – gyms etc.

Individualised funding is ideal for the retirement village sector.

Separate funding for accommodation and care is ideal for the retirement village sector.

An early ‘system navigator’ is ideal for the retirement village sector.

The role of the Village Manager will be vital in this vision, a genuine ‘value’ enhancement that will elevate it as a profession.

Exciting times.

We take this opportunity to thank you, Village professionals far and wide, for your valuable contributions to the organisations, communities and residents you serve and for your continued commitment to the sector!  

If you are working through the holidays, perhaps you could try to:

• Work a bit of fun or nostalgia into your workday
• Put some carols on
• Make time to share special some moments with your community
• Share a meal with your community
• Finish up some of the loose end to-do jobs whilst it’s a little quieter
• Make taking down the decorations a community effort & shout morning tea
• Make time to keep in touch with those important to you
• Know that the DCM Institute community will be alongside you!

Wishing you the merriest of Christmases, a fantastic festive season and hope that 2020 delivers satisfaction, achievement and loads of fun times!

Cheers!

Resident Associations’ views and their expectations have been heard and considered more seriously than ever previously encountered by Governments across the country, with many states enacting immediate legislated reforms. 

In my own 20-plus years of experience, Ministers would barely be involved in the drafting of new Retirement Village legislation.

Yet in 2019, they were making election promises and directing drafting new legislation in various states due to the tireless advocacy work of the Resident Associations (Photographed Building Commissioner, David Chandler and Kevin Anderson, NSW Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation).

The continued slow and steady media activity via Today Tonight, The Australian and several local state-based papers has continued to confuse retirement villages and aged care.

Then we had Earle Haven Retirement Village on the Gold Coast confusing everyone when its aged care home was abandoned by the outsourced manager.

Reinforcing the media’s interest in our sector are the awards to Anne Connolly (pictured right) and her team from ABC, who recently took out the Australian Human Rights Commission’ Media Award for their ‘Aged Care: Who Cares?’ investigation which aired in September 2018.

2019 has also seen the increase in the acceptance of the Land Lease model and an extremely popular housing option for retirees.

Plus the introduction of many other hybrid model offerings such as LDK Healthcare – led by assisted living advocate Paul Browne – and their “Club membership” offer, apartment buildings with Care Concierges, etc….

Along the way village operators are building medium rise villages that look like hotels – and Village Managers will be leading them.

2019 has certainly been a year of disruption and refocus for many operators and the sector!