Meet Vitori Buatava, the founder and managing director of CareMatch Australia, a boutique care provider offering personal in-home assistance to Gold Coasters with a disability.
Tori first met Accessible Homes Australia Founder and CEO Perry Cross AM in 2009 and their mutual love of sport — particularly rugby — saw the pair go from carer and client to great mates.
In 2022, Tori now has a team of 35 enthusiastic carers behind him, who are also passionate about providing specialist disability support to clients looking to maintain a strong connection to their community.
Tori says his CareMatch crew, who are providing the 24/7 onsite concierge care service at our East Palm Beach Specialist Disability Accommodation apartments, value the strong relationship they have with clients and their families.
“With a broad range of experience, our team offers clients the ability to do things once thought impossible, offering respite for families or individuals, tailored to what they need and want,” says Vitori.
“We look after our clients like we would want to be cared for; we become part of the furniture and life-long friendships often blossom.”
“That is why I have been a carer for more than 10 years, because my clients become my mates.”
Vitori started working in the care industry when his father was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2007, from there he continued to support others in the industry.
“When I was caring for Dad, a few months before his passing I realised that I really enjoyed helping people,” says Vitori.
“I went to TAFE and started caring for a number of clients, especially those with spinal injuries. Then CareMatch was born.”
“We now provide support to more than 17 clients from Ballina to Brisbane, including the 24/7 concierge care service at Accessible Homes Australia’s East Palm Beach SDA development.”
Perry Cross says he’s known Tori for a long time and having common interests, like sport, helped cement their bond all those years ago.
“It helps when you have that relationship with someone, it makes the bond a bit easier to form — and it’s one of the keys to Tori and I’s successful carer-client relationship,” says Perry.
“Tori is unique. He has the most natural caring approach that is entirely innate — you can’t manufacture it. And this great part of who he is is reflected in the CareMatch level of service.”
“CareMatch is a boutique organisation. I had only had experience with large-scale providers and as the NDIS evolved and brought about more choice and control for participants — who discovered they could have a say in who cared for them and what that care looked like — Tori had the foresight to start his own company.”
“There are many people, particularly those with a spinal injury, that Tori has been able to help through CareMatch and he always takes the time to listen. The company is growing with its clients so it fits perfectly with what Accessible Homes Australia’s doing with our concierge care model. We can scale up, and CareMatch can come along with us.”
CareMatch is already changing lives at East Palm Beach, offering their friendly disability support to the seven NDIS participants with high physical support requirements.
At East Palm Beach, residents have the opportunity to access care support from the touch of a button or the sound of their voice, with a hard-wired nurse call system enabling direct communication with carers available around the clock.
Vitori says the CareMatch concierge apartment also functions as a breakout room for participants who want to “get out of their four walls and talk to someone new”.
“We are looking forward to spending quality time with the residents at East Palm Beach – it’s going to be a great year,” says Vitori.
If you would like more information on AHA’s Specialist Disability Accommodation or how our concierge care model works, please get in touch at [email protected].
