Life gets a bit safer for Thea
A SEVERE shortfall in specialist disability accommodation on the Gold Coast means multiple sclerosis sufferers such as Thea Wren have spent years living in unsafe homes and units.
But the Currumbin Waters cancer survivor finally has something to smile about. Next month she will move into an accessible apartment at Robina thanks to a partnership with MS Queensland and disability service provider LifeBright.
“MS Queensland have been amazing and helped me get into a two-bedroom place that means I can finally take something out of the oven safely. I’ll also have space in my bathroom and have people onsite 24/7 to take care of my needs at night when my carer is not around,” she said.
The partnership aims to help address the 327-person shortfall of specialist disability accommodation in the city, says MS Queensland acting chief executive Zane Ali.
“It’s a big problem in Queensland, but the Gold Coast is a hot spot with hundreds of people with disabilities living in old stock not suitable for their needs,” he said. “When we started looking at how we could help three years ago, we knew we wouldn’t be able to tackle this ourselves, so we started talking to local developers.”
In the past 12 months, 30 developers have approached MS Queensland about constructing Specialist Disability Apartments.
Units are available at Southport, Robina and Bundall, with East Palm Beach Apartments now under construction thanks to a partnership with SDA designer Accessible Homes Australia.
Mr Ali said the Palm Beach development was the organisation’s seventh accommodation project aimed at increasing quality of life.
For Ms Wren, who recently fell and broke her wrist, moving into a customised unit compatible with advanced home automation will be life-changing. “But I know there’s so many others out there like me still living in unsafe places,” she said.
With MS, the immune system eats away at the protective covering of nerves.
AHA founder Perry Cross, who became a C2 ventilated quadriplegic as a result of a rugby injury, said finding SDA-approved homes was all but impossible until recently.
“We started our own organisation … to make the process from an NDIS inquiry to moving into SDAapproved homes seamless,” he said.
For SDA eligibility: call MS Queensland on 1800 941 201 or go to msqld.org.au