Expansion plans for supported living model

A Qld group pioneering a new model for seniors living has announced significant growth plans.

Tall Trees directors Phil Usher and Alan Powell at Tall Trees Tanah Merah, due to open next month.

A Gold Coast company pioneering the supported living model in Australia has announced plans to roll out its neighbourhood communities across Queensland and beyond.

Tall Trees has refinanced its borrowings to fund expansions to its current developments at Rochedale and Tanah Merah.

It is also investigating sites for further neighbourhoods in Cairns and Oxenford, across the border in northern NSW and as far away as Western Australia.

Director, Phil Usher said the supported living model enables older people to maintain a ‘normal’ lifestyle while they age in place.

“About six years ago we were introduced to an American concept called supported living, where people can move into a retirement house which they can stay in as they become more frail so they never have to move again,” he said. “All the care that they will need is brought to them in that home and in that neighbourhood.”

“A typical example of one of our residents is someone who moves in at 65 quite independently but after a while they start to experience some problems. So they say, ‘Hey tall trees, I need a hand to tidy up once a week,’ and we provide that support on a user-pay system set below market rates. As their needs increase we provide more services and if a resident doesn’t need any care or services, they don’t have to pay.”

Like in many retirement villages, residents purchase a long-term lease on their self-contained homes.

All homes in the Tall Trees neighbourhoods feature subtle accessible features such as wide front doors and hallways and step-less entries.

But they also include a well-proportioned heated bathroom with room for a washing machine and a clothes dryer and a proper kitchen.

Residents can take advantage of a range of common neighbourhood facilities including a restaurant and dining room, a convenience store, a coffee shop a Wii lounge and raised garden beds.

“Our residents really like to garden,” Mr Usher said. “They grow a lot of herbs which they can harvest for their own consumption – or our kitchen buys herbs off the residents and uses them in its kitchen. It’s a really modern way to treat people as they age.

“Whereas aged care has traditionally been run on a hospital model derived from a medical background, ours is a real hospitality model.”

The group’s first community at Rochedale has been operating for close to five years now and its Tanah Merah project is set to open next month.

According to Mr Usher, the model has proved successful because of its client-centric approach.
“It’s really simple,” he said. “If you can give people what they want they will come.”

“The interesting thing is that it needs to be operated by heartfelt, client-centred people. It doesn’t work if you are just in it for the money. But if you have got happy people you can’t fail.”

Tags: expansion, models-of-care, retirement-living, supported-living, tall-trees,

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