A main street fitted out with authentic early to mid 20th-century memorabilia, a hairdresser and a café, as well as new larger resident rooms, are all part of upgrades nearing completion at Cooinda.

The aged care home was established more than 55 years ago on the site of the former Benalla Migrant Camp. The needs of residents have changed over the years, and the facility is evolving to meet them.

Cooinda chief executive Alex McKenna said, as a charitable organisation, it was currently fundraising to assist in completing the project.

“The total investment is $9 million, which covers all the preparatory work and the buildings itself,” Mr McKenna said.

“We’ve launched our fundraising campaign with an aim of $250,000, primarily to assist with the Main St.”

The Main St is the centrepiece of the impressive redevelopment and will feature an old phone box, classic post box and one of the original street lamps that came from the migrant camp.

“This project dates back nearly 10 years,” Mr McKenna said.

“And this is the last piece in the puzzle of what we call the stage two development.

“And this is really about improving Cooinda, not expanding.

“We had some old infrastructure that at the time was cutting edge, but in today’s modern age, was no longer fit for purpose.

“So as we were decommissioning buildings and opened up Ledger Wing, we then had the capacity to build this new area.

“And that’s really a replacement of new offices for old offices, a new commercial kitchen and new resident rooms.

“But the key of it all is around the resident experience and the resident spaces that are available.”

Mr McKenna said research had shown that the profile of the average person living in aged care had changed.

“When we opened in 1969, all of our residents drove their own cars,” he said.

“Today, only one of our residents occasionally drives their car.

“So we know that the idea of being able to get into Benalla has changed.

“Residents often can’t travel down like they used to.

“So what we wanted to do was be quite novel and create our own main street.”

Mr McKenna said that was one motivation; the other was to provide an area where residents could meet with friends, family and other residents.

“Typically, when we would go to see a loved one in a care facility or a hospital, we generally go to their bed or bedroom, and we meet them in that space,” he said.

“What we want to happen is we want them to say, well, Mum, I’m going to be in the café at 2.30pm, why don’t I meet you down the Main St, we’ll get a coffee, we’ll sit outside, we might have a look at the shop.

“That will help create that social connection for residents.

“When people are feeling at a point of being disconnected, moving into care services, we want them to remain connected with the community.”

The Main St will also help residents stay connected to their past.

“We have an old red telephone box and an old post box,” Mr McKenna said.

“And we have one of the lamps that was here at the migrant camp before we existed, which will illuminate it at night-time.”

It’s quite possible there are some residents who came to Benalla as a migrant after World War II and walked under the same street lamp as children.

In order to complete Main St under the current vision, Cooinda needs the community’s help.

It has launched a fundraiser with a goal of $250,000. If you are in a position to donate, you can do that via cooinda.org.au or by visiting reception in person.

All the money raised will go directly to the project, and donations are tax-deductible.

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Thursday, 23rd January 2025

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