What is a Care Hub?

Recently opened at The Verge at Burleigh GC, the Care Hub is an innovative new approach RetireAustralia is taking to providing high levels of quality care in their new retirement communities. It’s not traditional aged care and nothing like a hospital. But what exactly is a Care Hub and how does it provide a positive alternative for aged care?

What is a Care Hub?

The Care Hub is a true alternative to traditional aged care, offering compassionate and person-centred care in a homelike environment. Located in The Verge at Burleigh GC retirement community, the Care Hub is a boutique-style care option featuring just 10 private care suites with private bathroom and kitchenette. The Care Hub seeks to provide care to residents in their own community, surrounded by family and friends. Unlike traditional aged care there’s no Aged Care Assessment Team (ACAT) or Assets test required, so subject to suitability and availability, you can move in right away.

The comfort of home

The Care Hub has been built to Aged Care standards, but it’s also been carefully designed to look and feel just like home, rather than a clinical environment like a hospital or traditional aged care facility. There is a spacious lounge and sunroom complete with contemporary furnishings, and a kitchen and dining area that you could easily find in a modern home. Stepping into the Care Hub there is an immediate sense of peace and comfort.

Every resident of the Care Hub has their own fully furnished, private suite that’s complete with an ensuite and kitchenette. The resident also has the choice to add their own personal touches to the suite as well, ensuring that special sense of home.

Friends and family are welcome to be part of a resident’s life in the Care Hub, whether it’s enjoying time on the terrace overlooking the golf course, relaxing in the lounge or even joining in for one of delicious meals prepared by the onsite chef.

Care you can trust

While it’s important to be in a comforting and homelike environment, the crux of the Care Hub is the quality care that residents receive. The Care Hub is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A Registered Nurse manages the Care Hub and oversees qualified carers in the delivery of care. This means that a resident who requires high levels of care can be reassured that they will be well looked after in the Care Hub.

Each resident is viewed as an individual with unique needs and care plans are carefully designed for each resident. This means that residents aren’t required to live to a timetable determined by the facility, but can decide when they wake up and go to bed, when and what they’d like to eat, when they shower and receive their care.

Why come to the Care Hub?

At RetireAustralia, our Care team’s first preference is always to care for someone in their home in the village. If that is no longer possible, the Care Hub provides the perfect safety net.

As Nick Palmer, Queensland Regional Care Manager at RetireAustralia, says: “We will look after people in their home for as long as we can and living independently for as long as possible. But we have the reassurance that if it’s not possible to look after them, the Care Hub presents us an opportunity to take it to the next level.”

Reasons residents choose to move into the Care Hub include:

• Short-term respite care, such as after surgery or to recover from a serious illness.
• Complex support needs, such as chronic and complex heath conditions.
• Impaired mobility that impacts independence.
• Palliative care and end-of-life care.

What does the Care Hub cost?

As with aged care, the cost to a resident is dependent on their independent financial situation. All fees and costs are clearly outlined to each resident before moving into the Care Hub. Essentially there will be a:

• care and services fee, that can be partially offset by a government-funded Home Care Package,
• accommodation fee, which will be dependent on whether you are staying short or long term.

Unlike many aged care facilities, there are no hidden or unexpected costs. The only costs you will pay are for your accommodation and accommodation related services, the care and services that you receive in the Care Hub, and any visiting health providers, consumables or special equipment that you use. If there are nice-to-have services, such as transport to the shops, you can always request them for an additional fee.

Our Care team also works diligently to maximise the amount of government funding that residents can reasonably receive to support their care needs.

Stay in a community that you know and love

Many of the Care Hub residents will have been residents in the independent living units at The Verge. When and if a resident requires high levels of care, it’s excellent that they can remain in the community that they know and love, surrounded by friends and possibly their partner.Knowing that the Care Hub is available to them brings security to residents of The Verge when it comes to their ageing care journey.

Find out more about the care offerings at The Verge.