New lifts at Courtlands and renovations at Maranatha will give our two integrated care communities a boost over the coming year.
Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) and retirement living units are co-located within Christadelphian Homes’ two large estates. This helps create vibrant and active communities thanks to our staff, residents, families, and volunteers.
Maranatha in Kallangur will undergo room refurbishments in the Acacia wing of the aged care home, along with renovations to some of the Independent Living Units (ILUs) in the retirement village as soon as possible.
A Wellbeing Coordinator, Renee Bloomer, (pictured left), has now been appointed part-time at Maranatha Village, to assist in facilitating their monthly activities program, and help start up any additional activities they may wish to pursue.
The Maranatha Spring Fair and the Maranatha Garden Railway contribute so much to its community atmosphere thanks to the incredible efforts of all the volunteers involved.
Maranatha also continues to be blessed by having the Kallangur Christadelphian Ecclesia meet onsite every week, and enjoys good occupancy, clinical quality and overall performance.
There is also much going on at Courtlands in North Parramatta that we hope will give the site something of a ‘lift’ in the coming year – several lifts in fact!
Three new lifts are being installed in the aged care home after the old lifts reached their end of life and needed constant repairs.
Plans are also well advanced for the installation of up to six new lifts in the retirement village at Courtlands, given some of the ramps feel like they get steeper as the years go by! A Development application (DA) has been approved by Council, and we are hopeful of being able to proceed with installation of the first lifts soon.
The number of Christadelphians living at Courtlands has continued to increase, and several Christadelphian volunteers and visitors continue to visit the site. It is always wonderful to see new, yet familiar faces, at the site and witness the supportive environment that is created when residents with shared values come together.
At the Courtlands RACF, a lot of good work continues to be done to ensure the aged care home can maintain an appropriate level of clinical quality going forward. Last year, two-year Accreditation was achieved, which was the longest period granted at the site since Christadelphian Homes has owned it.
Courtlands Aged Care has a new Director of Consumer Care and Services (DCCS), Liza Abapo, (pictured right), who is well-known to Christadelphian Homes as she previously worked with us at Southhaven a few years ago.
Our team at Courtlands Aged Care is now strong and stable after some other senior staff changes and a renewed focus on recruitment of new care staff, which has been challenging across the industry in recent years. This has led to a dramatic reduction in the use of Agency staff and costs over the last year.
The financial performance of Courtlands Aged Care has also improved over the year, but more work is needed to ensure the momentum continues.
Aged care occupancy is now the highest Christadelphian Homes has experienced since we purchased the site and above the industry average.
Courtlands Village also continues to be an important focus, and experienced a busy year following a successful Village Open Day in 2023, and another in November 2024.
The number of occupied ILUs at Courtlands Village has increased year-on-year, which is good for the community and the organisation.
Daisy’s cafe has enjoyed its first full year of operations and has been well received. Our thanks to those involved in running the cafe (both staff and volunteers), as well as all the residents and visitors to the village and aged care home that have visited it.
Courtlands continues to be blessed by having the Christadelphian Daytime Fraternal attendees regularly gather at the site for some spiritual discussion and a lot of fun and fellowship together. Our thanks to those that organise, support, and attend this meet-up.
Some initial strategic thinking has also been given to our villages, to ensure both villages continue to meet the needs of residents into the future, including the provision of services that might be needed.
We also again thank the ecclesias and members that have supported our residents and staff at Courtlands and Maranatha throughout the year.
Christadelphian Homes is blessed to have all our sites, and while there continues to be a lot going on at both Maranatha and Courtlands, we are hopeful some of the above initiatives will continue to give them a real lift in the year ahead!
