The president of Fronditha Care and its board chair, Jill Taylor (Nikitakis), said that the organisation’s performance since February had exceeded expectations and that it was set on a course for significant growth in the future.
Ms Taylor addressed 50 members in the second online member information session of the year.
“The important and necessary measures the Board and CEO, Faye Spiteri Tsolaki and her team implemented, to recalibrate the financial viability of the organisation, have proved to be very effective. We made the difficult decisions swiftly and so far managed to strike the right balance, keeping the care of our residents at the highest quality,”Ms Taylor said.
The organisation had experienced a financial performance that had been better than expected following a disappointing 2020.
“Positive sentiment towards our organisation from the community has seen increased demand for Fronditha Care services. We continue to grow with uncompromised service as evidenced by the accreditation of all our facilities,” she told the information session.
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The organisation had continued to increase its occupancy rates in all its facilities despite difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and compliance requirements in the aged care sector.
Average occupancy rates for Fronditha Care facilities were at average of 99percent compared to the industry average of 88 percent.
The release of of additional government packages since April this year had resulted in an 80 percent volume growth of Fronditha Care’s Community Services with more elderly community members needing assistance at home.
“Our strategy is definitely working, and we have made great gains in just four months. While we still have a way to go, we are moving forward … towards a surplus result sooner than expected.”
Ms Taylor said that Fronditha Care had facilitated the COVID-19 vaccine rollout with 83 percent of residents and 82 percent of staff having been vaccinated.
She noted that there was also a focus on completing capital works with a new facility at St Albans set to open soon.
“We have made a significant investment of $21.9M, to build a state-of-the-art facility in St Albans to fully cater to all our elderly residents’ needs. Ninety members of our community, many of them with advanced care needs, will be the first to occupy the new and much anticipated St Albans residence from September 2021. We expect the facility to be fully occupied within three months of opening, COVID restrictions permitting.
“We have also commenced small capital works at our Templestowe and Thornbury facilities, with a total investment of over $2.1 million, as part of our continuous improvement projects.”
Ms Taylor said the organisation was working on a 10-year strategy which aimed to provide more choice in service delivery. She said she would provide more information at the organisation’s annual general meeting in November.
New Fronditha directors Nicholas Giassoumi and Alex Krassas were introduced at the meeting.
