Source: The Ridge News

The Walgett Shire Council is set to build a Dementia Day Care facility at Lightning Ridge.

Last week the State and Federal governments agreed to present $1.1 million to the council so they can build a wing onto the Home and Community Care Centre in Pandora Street.

Walgett Shire Council general manager Ray Kent said the Home and Community Care Centre will be officially opened in August.

The interior of the building is being completed and currently garages are being constructed for the Community Transport buses, landscaping and paved car parking is still yet to be done.

But the dementia wing will not be ready when the Home and Community Care Centre opens. Mr Kent said it will take several months for all the paper work to be complete and to find the necessary tradespeople to do the building.

Mr Kent said council applied for the funding last November after the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care identified Lightning Ridge as the preferred location.

At the time of their search the department identified 46 potential clients within the catchment area, but as the population ages, this is expected to increase.

“The unit will have a capacity for 15 daycare clients but will also be available for the frail aged and young people with disabilities,” he said.

“Council will manage the construction of the facility and services will be delivered by Lightning Ridge Home Care,” he said.

The Dementia Day Care is one of nine centres that will be built across NSW at a cost of $11.86 million. Federal Minister for Ageing Justine Elliott said the nine centres are the first of 16 that the Governments to build across the State.

“The focus on dementia-specific facilities is a response to the increasing incidence of dementia associated with the aging of the population,” she said.

The Lightning Ridge facility will be the only one in the Far/North West region. Other centres will be built at Cooma, Woy Woy, Baulkham Hills, Orange, Casino, Fairy Meadow north of Wollongong, Willoughby and Wee Waa.

NSW Minister for Disability Services Kristina Keneally said the new facility would be funded under the Community Care program and would provide much needed services specifically designed for the needs of clients with dementia.

“It will give people with dementia the opportunity to participate in a therapeutic program, socialise and form new friendships, receive assistance with personal care and attend outings,” she said.

Duty MLC Christine Robertson said the centre would also help people with dementia to live as independently as possible in their own homes.

“Because the centre will provide a day-care service, it will provide respite - a much needed break for the carers of people with dementia who use the services there,” she said.