Esperance Shire Council, on the south coast of WA, will decide on 24 May if it will agree to give part of a 2020 donation from mining company IGO to Esperance Aged Care Facility, which is running a reduced service.
A number of older residents who should be in the aged care home are in the town’s hospital yet Esperance Aged Care Facility has 20 of its 94 beds empty.
CEO Dr Ed Rhode has written to the Council asking for funding to reopen a 10-bed wing for low needs residents. He said the money would go to new mattresses and renovations.
IGO donated $150,000 to the Council in 2020 to help with COVID-19 recovery. Esperance Aged Care Facility, which opened a new 32-bed extension, part-funded with $3.5 million from Federal Government in December 2018, is asking for $27,000.
“This recovery effort goes a long way in reducing our waiting list, enabling Esperance Aged Care Facility to generate additional revenue and bring us closer to our pre-COVID position, being a fully supported aged care facility,” he wrote to Council.
