Eastgate day care gets new facilities

A new building will make life easier for users and carers of Eastgate Community Trust, writes Andrea Jutson.
Good news is on the way for Eastgate Community Trust.
The Pakuranga facility for adults with intellectual disabilities lost its funding for overnight respite care last year, but its day facility will be given a new lease on life.
In May, the trust aims to begin building a new facility on the existing site at Lloyd Elsmore Park.
Currently, the trust accommodates 11 students in two old wooden houses. Such is their condition that Manukau City Council assessors recommended at least one be demolished, rather than sold, to make way for the new day centre.
Up to 20 students will be able to use the new centre at any one time, enabling more young adults to taste real life in the outdoors.
The replacement centre will be all under one roof, with a garage for the trust's vans, which currently park outdoors. The rented office prefab will go, as will the makeshift kitchen across from the activity hall.
``It's so awkward cooking in the kitchen in one building, then bringing hot food, sometimes through the rain, between the two buildings,'' says carer Shirley Marshall.
The trust also hopes to offer more activities in the bigger premises.
The oldest programme member is 40, while the youngest is 24. Set up in 1989 by parents of intellectually disabled children, Eastgate caters for adults over the age of 21, when the education system says they are no longer eligible for schooling. The day care programmes give them the opportunity to mix with others, and experience everyday life.
``One boy used to spend all day at home, and didn't show much enthusiasm for anything,'' says trustee Graeme Burman.
``Then, one morning after he started here, his mother wondered what the noise coming from his room was. It was 5am and he was already up and dressed, waiting to come here.''
Resource consent has already been granted for the purpose-built centre, and about 60 per cent of the estimated $550,000 needed has been donated by the Lion Foundation, ASB Trust and other charitable organisations. Trustees are approaching the Howick Community Board and other local groups to help reach the target amount.
The new centre will not have overnight respite facilities, but Eastgate's trustees haven't given up yet. This week, they are meeting delegates from the Ministry of Health to persuade the ministry to renew its funding of respite care, which takes a little of the strain off parents with high-needs children.
If the ministry agrees, Eastgate hopes to buy another property nearby for respite care.