industry & reform
Aged care cruising
An Australasian couple’s dream of an aged
care home on a luxury cruise liner.
By Kate Prendergast
At a time when cruise ships are widely seen as heaving
leviathans of deadly contagion, one couple in New
Zealand has just put on the market a new venture to place
the most vulnerable age group on board.
Elysium Cruise Line Residence is the vision of Andre and Avril
Sidler: a self-funded, luxury repurposed six-star cruise ship that
is simultaneously a premium aged care home, with a flagship
voyage scheduled for 2024.
Chasing temperate climes on a flexible but predictable itinerary
(with up-to-date location data streamed via website and app
for families and friends), the elderly elite travel in stateroom
cabins to boutique ports across Australia, New Zealand and the
Pacific Islands.
The idea took seed five years ago, when Andre (an aviation
veteran) began researching care options for his ageing mother,
Taesega. What he found uniformly disappointed him – and at
times left him horrified. He couldn’t imagine abandoning Taesega
in her final years to a cooped-up life of stasis, stagnation and bad
food. As much a proactive son as a loving one, he resolved to
create the haven he couldn’t find. Hundreds of hours have been
poured into the project, and all of his savings. Early this year, the
website was launched and the campaign to secure the first fleet of
passengers began.
The Sidlers’ dream is one of inexhaustible bounty. As their
customers harbour in Sydney, Vanuatu, Fiji, Akaroa and more, they
see them regaled with a smorgasbord of entertainment options.
Sapphire pools can be swum in; theatre shows can be watched;
and there are even plans for the ship to host televised TEDx Talks.
When it comes time to repose, residents do so in one of 371
private rooms, each measuring no less than 20 square metres.
Avril and Andre Sidler. Photos: Supplied
Meanwhile, and what would make Elysium a world-first,
residents receive comprehensive health support through
advanced specialist medical facilities and a phalanx of 300–400
qualified nursing staff. On board this 50,000 gt colossus, there will
be A & E surgeries, podiatry and pathology clinics, a pharmacy, a
dentist, an optician, physio and general clinics too. These services
would be equal if not superior to aged care homes that exist
onshore. Or, at least onshore in the Bahamas, where the ship is
registered (as are 30 per cent of cruise ships, mainly for the tax
and regulation loopholes), and whose health and safety codes the
ship must comply with.
Should a resident’s health situation exceed the ship’s
capabilities, they would be transferred to the nearest partner aged
care provider or hospital – by helicopter, should the ship be en
route at the time (though the ship would spend 80 per cent of its
journey at harbour). Depending on the nature of the decline, this
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agedcareinsite.com.au