Emmy Monash was honoured to host a visit on July 13 from The Hon Anika Wells MP, Federal Minister for Aged Care and Josh Burns MP, member for Macnamara. Minister Wells flew down from Queensland for this visit with the focus of highlighting the need for 24/7 Registered Nurses in aged care.

Emmy Monash was chosen as not only a facility that already has this in place, but also boasts an impeccable record of compliance.

The Minister also had the opportunity to meet with Monica Arango, Emmy’s Clinical Care Manager and Infection Control Lead. They spoke about the impact COVID has had on aged care and the importance on focussing on staff wellbeing. Monica also shared our nursing ratios with the Minister who was amazed at the robust clinical department structure at Emmy.

Throughout her tour, the Minister and her team were commending Emmy for the quality of programs, for the emphasis we have placed on staff wellbeing and the overall presentation of the facility. Minister Wells and Josh Burns MP took part in a physio class, a leather making activity and enjoyed coffee and a chat with two of our residents.

While onsite, the Minister took the opportunity to film an announcement that all aged care facilities should have 24/7 nursing. We were thrilled when she said the following “we saw the amazing work being done here by the nurses at Emmy. Every aged care home should look like this, every aged care home should have nursing care around the clock just like they do here and have done so for 12 years.”

This achievement is a credit to the foresight and leadership of CEO Tanya Abramzon, who implemented this 12 years ago when she joined Emmy.

On behalf of the Board, I congratulate the entire Emmy team who work hard every day, ensuring the highest level of care is maintained for our residents. It is clear that Emmy sets the benchmark for not only adhering to the Aged Care Quality Standards but exceeding them.