MiCare has officially launched its plans for the $35 million Noble Park Lodge facility in Melbourne’s south east – complete with a vegetarian kitchen, four prayer rooms and a large communal area.
The five-storey, 108-bed Lodge has been designed to meet the cultural and future needs of the Indian community – now the largest migrant community in Australia with more than 170,000 people from an Indian background living in Victoria and the traditional expectations of families caring for older relatives changing.
Currently there are around 365 Indian residents in aged care facilities in the southern state.
Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Australian Associations, Vasan Srinivasan, told The Senior that the design of Noble Park Lodge will be vital in assisting Indian-born residents who are affected by dementia.
“Dementia patients have a tendency to forget their second learned language,” he said. “And often people want to go back to their old food habits, traditions and customs” adding that
typical aged care facilities cannot accommodate these issues.
