Aged facility taking shape
A 140- BED aged care residential facility is on track to be finished by March next year.
PresCare’s Protea project is on Angus Smith Drive, Douglas about 2km from Townsville Hospital, and has created 130 jobs during its construction.
A company spokesman said the facility would create 150 jobs when it opened next year.
“PresCare identified Townsville as an area that could benefit from a new aged care residential facility,” he said. “We received feedback from the local community that they would like to have a modern aged care facility that is built with them in mind and one close to the hospital.”
A job for the facility manager is already being advertised and it’s understood there has been a lot of interest in the position. The job would start in November this year.
A rooftop garden with a cafeteria, hair salon, day therapy centre and a private chapel are part of the state- of- the- art building.
A 20- bed special care unit for people living with dementia is another feature of Protea.
The spokesman said with more than 78,000 full time equivalent hours spent building the facility already, they were on track for the targeted completion next year.
“The building is starting to take shape, with the scaffold starting to come down it really is looking fantastic,” he said.
PresCare, which is part of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland, is delivering the $ 30 million aged care facility in partnership with Catalyst Health REIT.
Catalyst is a real estate investment trust that partners with aged care operators and health care providers across investment opportunities.
Under the terms of the agreement, PresCare designs and develops the site and have the exclusive right to operate the facility upon completion.
PresCare CEO Greg Skelton said: “With construction underway, we are now exploring other possibilities for expansion of our aged care portfolio across Queensland.”
Latest data shows there are more than 22,000 people aged between 60- 69 in Townsville.