RELATED: Region’s urgent need for respite
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Sue Harrison and her daughter Daisy shared a moment at the entrance to the new respite house near Castlemaine, which opened on Friday.
After almost 10 years of planning, fundraising and volunteering, the first stage of the Mount Alexander Shire Accommodation and Respite Group’s plan was complete.
Ms Harrison is the group’s secretary. Daisy is among the community members with a disability who now have the option of a short stay at the Lions McDonald Hill House.
Castlemaine has embraced the project, which was created to address an urgent need for accommodation options for people with disabilities.
A total of $1,186,718 was contributed to the respite house, with additional in-kind assistance.
Mount Alexander was one of the few municipalities without purpose-built respite facilities, MASARG said.
The shire still lacks permanent accommodation options – something MASARG members will tackle with the second stage of their project, A Home of My Own.
But the focus was firmly on the respite house on Friday, with more than 120 people attending the site at McKenzie Hill for the opening ceremony.
“It was really wonderful,” MASARG member Heather Morrison said.
“We had lots of support from the local community and beyond.”
Ms Harrison said visitors were impressed by the respite house, and noted as much in the guest book.
Amicus Group Inc was announced as the Lions McDonald Hill House service manager, and awarded a grant by Carer Support Services to assist with transition programs.
In addition to respite and crisis accommodation, MASARG is planning for the house to be used to help people with disabilities gain the skills needed to live more independently.
“So much of the disability accommodation model is one of crisis,” Ms Harrison told the Bendigo Advertiser prior to the house’s opening.
“If there is something happening in the family then the person with the disability has to face huge changes, whereas we want it to be planned confidence-building until they are ready to move into supported accommodation.”