Fronditha Care’s Thornbury development is set to open next week to the public and will soon be introducing 90 residents to their new home.
It is the biggest development for Fronditha, and for a not-for-profit Greek organisation to date. The new three level ‘Anesi’ development will add to the 30 bed Thornbury branch. In three months the two will be joined and will cater to 120 residents.
More than four years in the works and about a month from completion, the $15 million development will offer state of the art care facilities to the elderly Greek community.
The project has suffered delays, and next week’s opening won’t be showcasing the full building, but rather a select few rooms. Fronditha says it will be fully complete and will be taking residents by the end of the month.
It is already fully booked and has a long waiting list, relative to the spike in demand not just in the Greek community, but in the more general ageing community of Australia.
The new development, the sixth in the Fronditha cohort, will be divided into high and low care and will house an exclusive 30 bed ‘Memory Ward’ to cater to residents with dementia. Each level will have its own activity officer, and will work collaboratively with the activity schedules from the other locations in Melbourne.
CEO George Lekakis tells Neos Kosmos that the new development will boost Fronditha’s workforce up to 600.
“We currently employ around 515 people in many different disciplines and we believe that with new development the number will increase to 600 employees,” he says.
Fronditha remains the largest employer of the Greek community, and has done so for over 35 years. It has even taken steps to ensure nothing gets lost in translation and has funded a $60,000 Greek course for the 20 employees not of Greek decent.
On the opposite spectrum, Mr Lekakis reveals the organisation is also in talks with the Department of Immigration to be able to bring skilled Greeks from Greece to cover the staff shortages as they arise in the future.
Just after the renovations of ‘Anesi’ are complete, new work will begin to refurbish the Clayton branch. Another 47 beds will be added to the 103 bed branch and offer better activity rooms.
Fronditha radiothon
Along with the opening, Fronditha will be running a radiothon to raise much needed funds for the renovations.
The radiothon, broadcast on 3XY radio next week on Friday and Saturday, hopes to beat the $117,000 raised last year. Neos Kosmos put to Mr Lekakis whether he believes the radiothon is still a good way to raise funds in the community.
“It’s logical to think so. Judging by the amount we were able to collect last year [about $117,000], I believe that the community still wants to support the organisation. What Fronditha is today is all thanks to the community,” he says.