Last week, the Koroit Health Services board gave $300,000 to help fund a new kindergarten for the town and it has also been revealed it donated almost $460,000 to a charity foundation.

Board chairman Brian Trotter said the board had recently given $458,000 to the South West Community Foundation.

Mr Trotter said that money would be redirected back into the Koroit community.

“Out of adversity comes opportunity,” he said. 

“We had quite substantial funds invested and it was rapidly running down because of the empty beds.”

Mr Trotter said there had been a lot of criticism of the board’s decision to close the Koroit Nursing Home and many people had felt that it should have traded through the tough times.

He said internal and external consultations had found that the lull would not be temporary.

The nursing home closed in September 2011 because of a lack of demand for beds. 

Mr Trotter said the 30-bed high-care facility had only 20 residents and the nursing home was losing money “at a great rate”.

He said if it had continued to operate it wouldn’t have been long before the government brought in administrators.

He said the nursing home couldn’t get residents to come to Koroit after the opening of Mercy Place in Warrnambool freed up beds at Lyndoch and Moyne nursing homes. 

Mr Trotter said that while no one wanted the nursing home to close, by the board making an early decision it was able to “ensure ongoing support for the community”.

When it became clear that the nursing home would not be able to survive, the board talked about its vision for the site.

That included bringing the kindergarten to the site and creating a community health hub — both now coming fruition.

“It’s fulfilling a vision,” Mr Trotter said.

klovell@standard.fairfax.com.au