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In a Napier dementia ward with six cases of Covid-19, the only way to stop the spread of the virus is a "confronting" uprooting of daily routines.
Bupa Gladys Mary Care home staff were on Thursday dealing with three confirmed and three probable cases, all in its 14-person dementia ward.
The rest home's leaders have described it as a challenging and unprecedented time for its 36 residents and 34 staff, who work across full time and part time roles.
Katherine Foulkes, Bupa clinical services director, has praised the coping ability of staff, none of who live at the centre, and residents.
"The challenge is to keep usual daily life which our residents are familiar with going alongside meeting the requirements of our infection prevention and control measures," Foulkes said.
"For a person living with dementia, change can be confronting but our team know the residents at Gladys Mary Care Home very well and they know their families, too.
"This familiarity is reassuring for both our residents and their families."
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The rest home spread happened when a Hawke's Bay tour guide infected as part of the Ruby Princess cruise ship coronavirus cluster put her husband into Gladys Mary's dementia ward.
The guide, who does not wish to be identified, told Stuff the past few weeks had been an incredibly traumatic period for her and her family.
She had mild symptoms from the virus, which appeared after she'd visited the rest home, but it had been awful for her husband, she said.
"Of course he was a high risk there and he needed to be isolated. He had just moved there and that would have been terrible for him," she said.
"This has been so hard for him. He couldn't eat or drink for three days," she said.
"For me, my two weeks in isolation has been easy. But none of this has been easy for him".
Foulkes said she understood the challenges families of residents were facing, knowing they could not see each other in person due to the level 4 lockdown restrictions.
"We are doing everything we can to keep that social connection with technology using video and phone calling and making sure to hygienically clean the devices between calls, too."
She said the care for residents with dementia was driven by a 'person first, dementia second' approach.
"This approach focuses on the person before the diagnosis, who they are, their likes and their life history, " Foulkes said.
"This background validates them and, at an exceptional time like this, our staff step up even more to reassure and comfort our residents on what is familiar. Due to our quick response using our personal protective equipment, we have managed to contain further infection to date."
Foulkes added that as the first aged care provider to receive the Dementia Friendly Award from Alzheimers New Zealand, she was "really proud" of the care home team.
"They're very dedicated and they continue to deliver exceptional care to our residents."
