Rest home with touch of class

A new family-owned rest home and hospital has introduced hotel-type services and helped raise the standard of aged care in the Western Bay.

From the moment you walk into the sweeping, marbled lobby of Bethlehem Views - reminiscent of the entrance to The Avenues Retirement Resort built by Sanderson Group - you notice the sophistication and attention to detail.

The lobby opens up to a large dining room and a lounge with a flat screen television, library, gas fire and views over the Kaimai Ranges and Tauranga Harbour.

The rooms - the larger ones accommodate couples - have en suites, 32-inch plasma TVs, lazy boy chairs, mini-bar fridges, bedside cabinets and air conditioning. And there's plenty of art splashed around the corridor walls.

"We wanted to set a whole new benchmark for rest home aged care facilities," said Bethlehem Views shareholder Heidi Scott. "People have higher expectations nowadays and competition was needed. Ten years ago, an en suite wasn't seen as necessary; now most people expect that."

The Sanderson Group, which sold the retirement resort in 10th Avenue to Metlifecare, took over the old Southern Cross private hospital last August and refurbished it.

The group invested about $5.5 million, which including buying the 6000sq m property which had been vacant for three years.

The recovery rooms in the first block facing Cambridge Rd were redesigned and converted for residents and the lounge and dining room added.

"We've used natural materials to make it warm and cosy and give it a homely environment," said Mrs Scott, daughter of Fraser Sanderson, founder of the Sanderson Group.

Stage two involved demolishing the back block which contained the operating theatre, X-ray and changing rooms and other services. New rooms and en suites were built.

Tauranga's Mark Tatton designed Bethlehem Views and Terry Walsh did the interior finish.

The rest home, with 24-hour hospital care, opened in early April with strong interest. Twenty residents signed up for stage one in the first week and 24 rooms were filled for stage two last month.

Bethlehem Views receives Bay of Plenty District Health Board funding which varies for each resident depending on income and services required.

A standard room starts at $118 a day and increases to $200 a day for hospital care.

Some residents are fully funded or partially funded by the Government.

The facility is run by 62 staff including 10 registered nurses.

Sanderson Group has a proud 24-year history of developing and operating retirement villages and aged care facilities.

The group first spotted the Cambridge Rd site a year before it finally purchased it.

After the Southern Cross hospital closed, the property was signed up by a church group which couldn't settle.

Sanderson Group made an offer after gaining Ministry of Health backing and being sure of receiving health board funding.