St Andrew’s finds the right balance with growth and refinement

One year ago, St Andrew’s Village Ballina in Ballina, New South Wales, stepped in as the new owner of Feros Village Byron Bay.

The standalone organisation saved the home and the seven residents who remained in the facility earmarked for closure.  Now, the recently renovated St Andrew’s Village Byron Bay – aptly named George’s Cottages after its founder, George Feros – is thriving. 

A recent comment from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission highlights that fact.

“They said most people they speak to in aged care facilities say they’re living their best life possible, given the circumstances. With our George’s Cottages at St Andrew’s Byron Bay, they said we’re not hearing that last caveat,” St Andrew’s Chief Executive Officer Todd Yourellshared with Hello Leaders. 

“They’re just hearing the residents are living their best life. To me, that was spectacular feedback. 

“Every time I step foot in there people are smiling. There are community groups sitting around in conversation. They’re using the new facilities we’ve put in there. The residents in that facility are really happy.”

St Andrew’s has just expanded its reach after assuming governance of Byron Aged Care which is roughly 500 metres away from George’s Cottages.

Alzheimer’s Queensland previously operated Byron Aged Care. However, it was the organisation’s only New South Wales residential care home, and a decision was made to sell after ten years of ownership. 

St Andrew’s was selected because of its commitment to the Ballina and Byron Bay communities. The fact Mr Yourell had also inquired about a sale two years ago helped. 

“Alzheimer’s Queensland said while they’ve enjoyed having custodial governance over the Byron Bay facility they wanted to give it back to the local community,” he shared with Hello Leaders. 

“For various reasons, including my reaching out to them a couple of years ago, they looked at St Andrew’s and determined that St Andrew’s was the best local community organisation they could give it back to.”

The St Andrew’s board now governs the new home, although Byron Aged Care will continue to operate as is with no staffing or operations changes. A transition will take place over the coming months. 

“It’s important to us to not rush any changes. Byron Aged Care has worked well for the last ten years under Alzheimer’s Queensland. We didn’t want to jump in and make changes,” Mr Yourell added.

“We want to let them be comfortable in the change that’s occurred to date so no staff, residents or their families get concerned. It is business as usual for them. The only real change is we’ll provide local support.”

Growing confidence at St Andrew’s matches their visible growth in the residential care space. The newest Byron Bay residential care home also adds a new dimension to St Andrew’s given its background specialising in dementia care and high acuity residents. 

This complements George’s Cottages where it’s a requirement for half of the residents to have experienced homelessness. 

Data from the State Government’s 2024 street count revealed a 16% increase in people sleeping rough in the last year, compared to a 1% rise in the City of Sydney. Roughly 350 people were identified as sleeping rough in Byron Bay with the town accounting for the largest number of homeless people in New South Wales. 

Mr Yourell knows how critical St Andrew’s support is.

“I’ve spoken to quite a number of people in the last year about Byron Bay and the homelessness issues that Byron Bay has. Most people don’t understand that Byron Bay has this real dual economy and there is a significant amount of homelessness in Byron Bay, mainly due to the expenses of living there. We’re meeting a need,” he explained. 

Refining it focus

Just days after announcing Byron Aged Care joined St Andrew’s, the organisation confirmed its exit from the home care sector. integratedliving, a health services provider operating in regional, rural and remote locations, purchased the division.

While it was a hard decision for Mr Yourell and the board, they recognised the time was right to step away from home care.

“The model with just the one residential facility, home care and retirement village was working okay. In the last couple of years, we had losses because of external circumstances and the need for agency. Refining our business has enabled us to move to a more profitable situation. That’s helpful for us as an organisation but obviously for our community,” he explained.

The added uncertainty surrounding Support at Home played a role in the sale. Mr Yourell was concerned they would not have the scope to adapt to the new program.

“integratedliving had a small footprint in the Ballina/Northern Rivers area. They were keen to boost their footprint and we were keen to include things like access to their wellness centre for our retirement living residents. The more we can provide to our clients and residents is spectacular,” he added.

“There was no negative from either side around what this is about. It’s a win-win for both organisations and a win for the clients and our residents.”

St Andrew’s can now focus purely on residential care and retirement living. It is already planning upgrades for its largest retirement community in Ballina, The Village, so it can offer modern accommodation and amenities. Other new developments are on the radar.

Elsewhere, St Andrew’s is in the process of a strata subdivision of nine units at Iluka Glades which is roughly one hour from Ballina. Half of the residents have accepted an offer to purchase their homes for as little as $10,000 and the bond price. The other half have requested to maintain the current status quo. 

“The reason we’re doing that is because we haven’t been able to provide the services we would like to that small village,” Mr Yourell said.

“This is about looking at what we do well. We do retirement living well and we now do residential care really well. There was a real struggle a few years ago, but we are fully compliant with both our facilities. We believe we can provide the best service possible to our residents.”

Focusing on its retirement living and residential care operations leaves St Andrew’s in a strong position moving forward and Mr Yourell is highly confident that staff and residents will see great outcomes in 2025. 

“St Andrew’s has a bright future. I’m really happy that I’m sitting at the helm of the organisation, working closely with the board and doing good things for our community,” he added.