News
Hawthorndale Care Village opens to full house
Calvary Hospital's new Hawthorndale Care Village, featuring the Dutch model - De Hogeweyk - where patients with dementia can live in a managed suburban style, was officially opened in Invercargill on Thursday (20 Mar).
The village currently offers 13 managed houses - each housing 6-7 residents who require rest home or dementia care - along with 10 villas for those who don't require rest home care. Stage two of the development allows for another 30 villas and apartments.
Hawthorndale manager Margaret Brown said that with all ten villas now sold and 86 of the 100 managed house beds filled, she was very happy with how things were going.
Six of the villa residents have already moved in with the remainder expected to move in in the next six weeks, she said.
Brown said those residents in managed housing, including 72 relocating from Calvery Hospital, would move in on 5th May.
"All our residents at Calvary have been over to the village centre. But from Monday onwards we will be taking small groups over to look around the houses."
Brown said they had also been organizing orientations and education for staff, including running cooking classes for those overseas staff who weren't confident with cooking.
"People are excited but nervous, which is normal," Brown said.
Invercargill MP Penny Simmonds said the village represented a revolutionary step forward in dementia care and Invercargill was fortunate to have such a valuable asset.
“From a vision shared by Calvary manager Margaret Brown – and supported by years of planning, tireless fundraising, generous sponsorship, and careful construction, today we celebrated the culmination of hours of dedication by a multitude of loyal Southlanders."
Simmonds said it was heartwarming to see the projects core team, like Sarah Hannan, Paddy O'Brien, Frank Boyle and other members of the board and Trust still involved today.
“This village will profoundly uplift the lives of those in our province living with dementia, and indeed the lives of their families."
Once Calvery Hospital has been decommissioned it will be used as accommodation by Blue Sky Pastures.
