Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Lyndoch Living has taken to Facebook today to urgently flog off the fencing around the site of its proposed $22 million medical clinic, strongly suggesting work will start within a week.

The big hint? It needs the whole lot packed up and gone by Monday.

And why wouldn’t they be putting the pedal to the metal?

There is nothing like getting a cement slab down to try and shut down growing community concern around the viability of this project.

More than 600 people have now signed a petition started by the “Keep Lyndoch living” action group asking for the State Government to intervene and pause the project until these concerns are addressed.

This petition asks for nothing more than an independent review, just to make sure that this massive investment by Lyndoch – the largest in its history – is sustainable.

But 600 people is obviously not enough to stop the Lyndoch Living juggernaut.

No, it presses on regardless, rolling right over the top of the community concerns and flattening them like it did the Tomlinson dementia wing with its established gardens, vegetable beds and green lawns.

The residents, you will recall, were shuffled off to the spanking new Swinton Wing, where they could peer through the windows at the destruction of their former home.

Grass and gardens are so yesterday, with that “old” Lyndoch slowly being replaced by cement, rooftop gardens, and a medical clinic that could possibly send Lyndoch broke.

And despite being owned by the community, Lyndoch feels under no obligation to explain anything to the community about its decisions.

Simple questions like where is the money for this medical clinic coming from?

What is the benefit to the elderly residents?

Is there a business plan?

What are the expected returns?

Such concerns are dismissed as a beat-up by “troublemakers” or “disgruntled ex-workers” who must be pushed aside quickly if Lyndoch is to move on with its masterplan.

It doesn’t matter a jot that one of those raising the alarm about this clinic is former Acting Chief Financial Officer Allan Conway who has the rare distinction of actually standing up and speaking out publicly for Lyndoch.

That shows a spine, yet Mr Conway’s concerns have so far fallen on deaf ears.

And because those with the power to intervene are choosing not to act, Lyndoch is acting – fast.

But as the petition shows, hundreds of people are prepared to publicly support Mr Conway and, most importantly, the elderly of Lyndoch, and that gives me heart and hope that this fight is far from over, fence or no fence.

You can find the petition here.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

A short post tonight.

As we know, the Lyndoch Living board has still not answered a series of questions over its plan to pour $22 million of aged care funds into a medical clinic.

This clinic is one of either two things:

an expensive trophy project that could leave Lyndoch in serious financial stress OR;

a certified winner that will directly improve the lives of the elderly and vulnerable residents of Lyndoch.

We still don’t know which.

The “Keep Lyndoch living” * group has tried to get answers from Lyndoch on behalf of the community, but has heard nothing.

It has now started a Change.org petition asking the State Government to intervene and pause the project until an independent review can address all outstanding concerns and questions.

The group will also shortly launch a Go Fund me campaign to seek a legal opinion on the rights of the community in regard to Lyndoch – a sentence which would have been unimaginable just 10 years ago.

As individuals, we have two choices: we can either join the fight for greater scrutiny of this massive project, or shrug our shoulders and leave Lyndoch to it.

No need to guess what this #justablogger plans to do. Over to you.

You can find the Change.org petition here.

*”Keep Lyndoch living” is a grassroots action group formed to become a voice for the community. Its founding members include medical Prof James Dunbar, Helen Bayne (M.Ed. B.Comm) and a former senior investigator for the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Jim Burke.