New regional office in Molesworth Street a bold commitment to Lismore
HammondCare will establish its new home care regional office in Lismore - a move Chief Executive Mike Baird says is a huge vote of confidence in the future of the city.
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HammondCare, one of Australia's most innovative health and aged care providers, will open its Northern Rivers area headquarters for HammondCare At Home in a former NAB Bank branch at 138 Molesworth Street.
"We strongly support the people of Lismore and HammondCare is delighted to be a part of this process of helping this wonderful town rebuild," Mr Baird said.
The shopfront, which was totally submerged in the floods earlier this year, will open to the public after an extensive refit as a home base for 16 administrative staff and 40 care workers. HammondCare At Home will also recruit locally for up to 15 more care workers.
HammondCare At Home has about 100 clients in Lismore and will look to expand its operations in the months ahead.
Mr Baird made the announcement in Lismore together with HammondCare At Home General Manager Bay Warburton as he gave a donation of $10,000 to Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg towards the Lismore Flood Appeal.
Mr Krieg said HammondCare's decision would help boost the growing positive mood about Lismore's future.
"What a wonderful endorsement for the future of Lismore to have an organisation like HammondCare open here," Mr Krieg said.
"It's the goal of council to encourage new businesses to join us to contribute to the renewed activity that is going in in the CBD."
Separate to this donation, the HammondCare Foundation, the charity fundraising arm of HammondCare, raised $85,000 earlier this year specifically to help its own home care clients and local staff impacted by the floods.
Due to the floods, 11 HammondCare At Home clients and five staff in Lismore had their homes inundated.
Among those most affected, care worker Gabriel Hooper, 29, remains unable to move back with his family into their Rhodes Street home - and they don't expect to for months.
Mr Hooper was forced to grab onto a roof gutter on his 1930s Queenlander cottage for four hours as the floodwaters rose on March 1, later scrambling onto his roof, as he awaited State Emergency Service evacuation.
After earlier moving his family to safety, Mr Hooper had stayed around to care for the family pets.
"We only just bought our home, and moved in on New Year's Eve," he said.
"While it's bit of a challenging time, we know we will get the work needed done to fix our home and look forward to moving back."
"The support of HammondCare over the past few months - both financial and emotional - has been so important to me and my family."
He is back at work as a caseworker helping clients three days a week and looking forward to returning to work full time soon.
Mr Warburton said his staff, including Mr Hooper, were looking forward to supporting more older people in the Lismore region eligible for Home Care
Packages and the Commonwealth Home Support Program so they can continue to live independently in their homes.
"It's exciting to be able to serve the older people of Lismore and to support them to have quality of life in their own homes," Mr Warburton said.
HammondCare At Home is a fast-growing part of HammondCare with about 1700 staff providing care for about 6900 older people in their own homes in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT.
