NORTHERN District Community Health has confirmed their interest in delivering in-home and community aged care and disability services to the Gannawarra community.
The Gannawarra Shire Council recently announced their in-principle decision to withdraw from direct delivery of funded aged and disability services in response to the planned introduction of the Federal Government’s new Support at Home Program. Following feedback from clients, staff and volunteers, the council will make a final decision in June.
NDCH chief executive officer Mandy Hutchinson told the Gannawarra Times that should the council resolve to conclude its current funding and service arrangement with the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments, her organisation was more than happy to take on those services.
“We are really proud to be a local place-based organisation that is committed to people in our community,” she said. “It’s a very similar cohort to the sort of people that we already support, older people and people with disability.
“They are the sorts of people that we really pride ourselves on providing terrific support to, so it’s just a really natural extension of that support.”
Ms Hutchinson said NDCH’s decision to announce their interest now, despite no final decision being made, was to reassure locals that even if the Gannawarra Shire Council ceases these crucial services, the services themselves will not cease.
“We do understand that there might be others who put their hat in the ring as well, and we understand there is a process to go through, so we are not trying to pre-empt anything,” Ms Hutchinson said.
“I suppose we were trying to be reassuring to people that at least we would put our hat in the ring, trying to give people a sense of feeling safe.
“We like to think we are a trusted provider, so we hope that that might ease people’s concerns just in case they are worried.”
NDCH will be seeking to engage with the funding bodies to actively explore their opportunity to deliver locally based, responsive, quality aged and disability services under the current program and funding arrangements.
“It is a really good fit for us to be honest,” she said.
“We’ve been around for 32 years, but we would like to be around for a lot longer, so this seems like a really good opportunity to really confirm how much we care about our local community, and hopefully it will strengthen the way we can work together across our services.”
For more information regarding the future of Community Care Service in the Gannawarra, visit www.gsc.vic.gov.au/CommunityCare
