Wednesday April 17, 2024
Volume 39 No. 12
$2 inc. GST
The Cobar Weekly Mt Boppy to move to on-site processing Pg 2
Significant results reported at Federation Pg 4
War Memorial build is progressing Pg 4
LBV at risk Let the good times roll of closure The introduction of new aged care regulations and cost escalations may see the Lilliane Brady Village (LBV) aged care facility closed. Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton met with Cobar Shire Council mayor Jarrod Marsden and general manager Peter Vlatko while he was in Cobar last week to discuss the future of the Council-owned facility. “We spoke about their concerns for the future of the Lilliane Brady Village nursing home, which is at risk of closure as a result of increased and unrealistic aged care regulations and cost escalations,” Mr Coulton said. Cr Marsden said prior to COVID-19, the LBV had “hovered around a breakeven point financially”. He said while it had lost a bit in some years, in other years it would make a small profit. “Before COVID we had 49 boxes we needed to tick in order for the LBV to meet all government standards for aged care and be fully compliant,” Cr Marsden explained. “Through and since COVID, there have been 88 new standards and requirements put in place, all of which cost money to adhere to.” He said some of these services are not provided locally and need to be sourced from outside of Cobar, services such as physiotherapy, tele-health and contract nursing staff, which involve additional costs for extra time, travel, accommodation, meals etc and which Cr Marsden estimates at a cost of $1.4M. Continued Page 3.
Cobar Shire Council’s fun school holiday activities kicked off on Sunday night with a Roller Glow Disco at the Cobar Youth & Community Centre with Marlee Billington, Grace Mackay, Aisea Fakahua, Josh Gillette, Kiarah Vaka and Hannah Trudgett pictured above. More activities are happening this week including virtual reality games, craft and mural painting.