New Martin aged care facility to provide 100 new beds

RESIDENTIAL aged care in the Gosnells and Armadale area has received a boost following the opening of a new $25 million facility in Martin.

Juniper Aged Care officially opened their Hayloft facility yesterday, which can accommodate up to 100 residents.

Chief executive Vaughan Harding said the number of people aged over 70 years in the Gosnells-Armadale area was expected to grow to nearly 26,000 over the next two decades, over a 115 per cent increase.

“The Gosnells and Armadale area takes in more than 177,000 people or 7.2 percent of WA’s total population, with an annual population growth of 58 per cent in the south-east, exceeding the 40 per cent growth predicted for Perth and the remainder of the State,” he said.

“Juniper Hayloft is the expression of the positive future we envisage to respond to the needs of older people in Western Australia and for Gosnells and Armadale, we embed this service as an intrinsic part of the local community.”

Mr Harding told Comment News last year they believed the area had been in need of improved aged care facilities for some time.

The 2016 Census found people aged 65 years and over made up 11.7% of the City of Gosnells’ population, a 1.5 per cent rise from the 2011 Census.

People aged 65 years and over made up 11.4% of the City of Armadale’s population at the 2016 Census, which had increased by 0.5 per cent from the previous Census.

The facility will include a fresh cook kitchen, open plan dining areas, lounge rooms, a children’s playground, alfresco areas, a medical consulting room and nurses’ treatment room.

Designed to reflect the area’s semi-rural character and the site’s former use for horse agistment, the site may feature suitable farm animals in the future.