Residents and staff move on from Karalee
19 April 2010
Many residents and staff of Karingal residential aged care service Karalee have secured new homes and jobs following the recent announcement of its closure.
Karingal Chief Executive Officer Daryl Starkey said the decision was made to close the 28-bed, low-level aged care service after all other options for continuing the service were investigated.
“Unfortunately Karalee is not viable due to the small number of beds,” Mr Starkey said.
Karingal’s attempts to obtain more licences to grow the service, with the plan to move to the retirement village site in Marshall, have not been successful.
It was expected to take a few months to assist residents to relocate, however, with ample aged care beds available in Geelong, relocation has been a smooth process with many residents already settled into their new homes.
Karalee is now likely to close in coming weeks.
Karingal has also worked closely with around 30 Karalee staff who were offered redeployment within Karingal or redundancy packages including the payment of all accrued entitlements.
Staff have been provided with assistance to create and update resumes and to search for new employment.
“We thank residents and their families for their co-operation and also our staff for their contribution and work in making Karalee such a warm and welcoming home for the residents,” Mr Starkey said.
“Clearly this is a difficult time for everyone associated with Karalee, but we thank you all very much for your support and understanding.”