Recently we ran an appeal asking the community for donations to help us fund new pressure-relieving mattresses for beds in our aged care facility. We had some incredible donations from all around the Mid North.
However, we did have some negative feedback on social media which indicated that we still have some explaining to do about why, from time to time, we come to the community with requests of this kind.
The criticism was that we should not be going out to the community with our “begging bowl” and that, instead, these items should be budgeted and paid for through our normal operating budget.
Which might be fair enough if we were a regular commercial Care and retirement accommodation provider. But we’re not. Kerikeri Retirement Village is a community-led organisation. We are listed as a charitable company on the Charities Register; we exist for exclusively charitable purposes.
This means that we don’t have the same significant financial resources at our disposal as the larger multinationals. This is important because where once there was sufficient revenue and national health funding to cover all the costs of keeping our aged care operation going, government funding is increasingly insufficient.
It’s a well-documented problem nationally. The issue is particularly acute among community-funded and charitable Care providers, with the result that many are having to close. At Kerikeri Retirement Village we are relatively fortunate as we have a popular and vibrant retirement village that, to a limited extent, can subsidise some of the shortfalls.
Our Care facility still provides many standard accommodation rooms that qualify for subsidised funding from the government. But this funding no longer covers costs; it hasn’t for some time. This is why new, all-premium room Care facilities being built by other operators in Kerikeri will cost residents between $295,000 and $695,000. As a charitable company Kerikeri Retirement Village will resist this option for as long as we can and will continue to offer standard accommodation. But until the government subsidy starts to cover the costs of operating these rooms, we will continue to need the financial support of our community.
Asking for help is something we certainly don’t mind doing. Because it’s an absolute necessity. At the moment we have appeals in place for donations and bequests to help us upgrade our Care facility, and for chargers for Samsung mobile phones. For volunteers to help deliver companionship and services to our residents, and for socks and tea towels for craft activities and even a badminton net. In other words, for a diverse set of needs with a correspondingly significant range in price-tags.
So next time you see us putting out an appeal please do bear in mind that we’re not doing it because we’re cheap or cheeky. We’re doing it because we’re a community-funded charitable company set up by our community to help make members of our community comfortable in their final years.
