Dr Sid Lau purchased Sylvan Lodge Nursing Home (Toowong) in 1989 as an ongoing concern. His decision to purchase Sylvan Lodge was inspired by his experiences as a General Practitioner providing medical care to residents at nursing homes. There were obvious areas for improvement. In 1978 together with the staff at Mentone Nursing Home (Melbourne) a non-restraint policy for wandering dementia residents was successfully implemented.
From 1989 to 2000 Sid Lau continued to advance his care services at Sylvan Lodge but it became clear that a new, more spacious structure was required. Sid Lau took this opportunity to design a new facility based on requirements
of highly impaired residents and staff needs instead of modifing established designs. The finished product was so different to the normal nursing home design the building now known as Forest Lake Lodge initially posed a challenge to insurance bodies and regulatory bodies in assessment and certification due to it’s uniqueness in the industry.
It was an exciting day in 2000 when the residents transferred from Sylvan Lodge in Toowong to the new building, Forest Lake Lodge in Forest Lake. The new building was based on a village concept with the central lounge acting like a village centre. Nurse station, hair dressing salon, kitchen servery all encircle the outer edge of the central lounge like shop fronts.
The residential courts branch off from the central lounge. Each residential court has an internal garden courtyard that brings in filtered sunlight and fresh air. The common passageways are like wide verandahs.
Our extra high care wing (Wattle) wraps around the outside of the Lillypilly and Jacaranda wings and has it’s own nurse station and lounge. Growth was required to achieve economies of scale and provide better options of care. In January 2008 construction commenced on the Forest Lake Lodge stage 2. Stage 2 is a 3 level building designed to accommodate 20 dementia specific high care, 40 low care and services (Kitchen, Laundry, maintenance and staff facilities).
The Dementia Specific level has been designed with state of the art security, secured inside and out recreational areas and staffed by staff with specific dementia training. Level 1 houses the new greatly expanded laundry, kitchen, maintenance and staff areas.
