TRANSCRIPT: WAGGA COMMUNITY AGED CARE, SIGNATURE AGED CARE OPENING, 23 JANUARY 2023
Subjects: Aged care
E&OE
Starts: 8:30am
FABIO MAYA:
Welcome, everybody, this is a very proud day for Signature Care we are on Wiradjuri land. Today we take our first resident and Signature Care is a family-owned company and this has been six years in the making, for us to open today. We are very, very proud to service the Riverina, at the moment we have got 144 rooms and majority have already been sold. We had a magnificent open day on the weekend with 800 people through. Our staff are all primed, our first resident is here, and we thank you all for attending today. I’ll hand over to Michael McCormack, who represents the Riverina. Over to you Michael.
MICHAEL McCORMACK:
Thank you, Fabio, and this is a signature day. This is Signature Care’s latest edition to the aged-care accommodation in Australia. This is a family-owned company, they have been very much an investor in Wagga Wagga. They have been very much filling a gap that Wagga Wagga needed to be filled. This is a wonderful day, and the facility as Fabio mentioned has got 144 suites, that’s not to mention the work that has gone into the construction for many, many jobs of excavators, many jobs of clearing the site and then building this purposeful, this state of the art, this world-class facility for the lucky residents of whom June is the first. And on Saturday 800 people came to walk through to see this magnificent facility which has, you name it, it has it. It’s got a cinema room, it’s got wonderful spacious living areas, accommodation to simply attract people, locals will be absolutely blown away by what we have here. But more than that, we have got wonderful staff, and I noticed as I walked through this morning there was lots of friendly smiles, whilst you can have a great building it’s also the staff that make it the facility that it is. And leading up to it is full finished there is going to be 164 or so staff, full-time equivalence working here at Signature Care in Turvey Park. Turvey Park’s a great suburb it was built in the mid-20th Century, it was one of the fastest-growing suburbs. It was the suburb to be in, in Wagga Wagga. And of course, so many people kept their homes, have stayed here and of course, Wagga Wagga is building outwards the north towards the south. But this is going to lead to a resurgence in Turvey Park, this is going to lead to an economic boost for not only this suburb but the city itself. An economic boost for the tune of millions of dollars. Just consider $426 000 in food alone that is going to go through this facility each and every day in the year.
Not only are we opening the 144 suites at first stage today, but there is another 36-bed suites to be opened very soon and be started very soon. This is an ongoing investment in the city and investment in aged care and we know how important aged care is. We had the Royal Commission into aged care and Signature Care is addressing many of those issues that were raised in the Royal Commission such as 24/7 nursing, this is also going to be providing palliative care, full care, and facilities for those people in their twilight years. Dementia support, high independence care, so great living for those people who chose to buy into those wonderful establishments. So, I commend Fabio, Steve, the family-owned company, Mum, and Martin Jones as well. But most importantly I want to pay credit to the staff who are going to make this facility what it is. You have got the very best buildings here and building here, and that is great, but it takes the staff to provide that care. This is in the very heart of Wagga and it’s very much going to provide such great facility for our residents, not only here in Wagga Wagga but throughout the entire Riverina. So well done to Signature Care, we thank you and we look forward to your continued progress in our city. So, without further ado June, I am going to get you to cut the ribbon.
Ends: 8:37 am