"Moving all our facilities to one site will mean it is easier for friends in the home or couples to stay together or visit each other easily, meaning less disruption. Maryann also always has a fully qualified registered nurse physically on site rather than on call, so residents and care staff will benefit from that as well."
AgeCare Central chairman Peter McDonald says while the physical site Marire sits on will close, the "spirit" of Marire isn't going anywhere.
"The Marire home, which we have all loved and supported over many years, will now have a new lease on life and will continue to provide that special care to our aged community from its lovely new facility."
He says there are plans to incorporate the name Marire in the new facility.
The closure of the Marire site will happen only after the work at Maryann is finished and ready to take Marire residents, says Jo.
She says while the Marire building has been well used and loved by the community for more than 50 years, the cost of any potential renovations are prohibitive.
"Being an old building, it comes with many of the problems you would expect such as asbestos, making renovation and maintenance work harder and more costly. A lot of the rooms are also smaller than we will have in Maryann, and after going through a pandemic where residents needed to stay in their rooms more, we have identified the importance of those larger spaces."
Not all rooms in Marire had their own washbasin, says Jo, and needed portable ones during the pandemic.
Nowadays, the preference for people to be cared for in their own homes has meant less demand for rest-home-level beds and a larger demand for services such as meal deliveries, carer visits, housekeeping and daycare facilities, says Jo.
"We have approximately 100 staff working for AgeCare Central and some of them work across both sites as well as with our in-home-care clients."
Jo says it is too early to say if there will be a change to those employment numbers with the planned closure of the Marire site.
"We are making sure staff are informed throughout and understand what the plan is. We don't yet know the details when it comes to actual numbers, but are working alongside our staff, as well as all our residents and families to ensure everyone knows what is happening at each stage. We have fantastic staff at AgeCare Central who are passionate about the work they do and we value their input and opinions."
"With the move to one site, there are obvious areas where we currently have two versions of the same service because they have been operating out of two separate locations. While we can say that will certainly change as they will all be on one site, we can't say what the configuration will be, with an increase in resident numbers meaning an increased demand on the services provided at the Maryann site."
Jo says she and the rest of the management team at AgeCare Central are aware that change can be disconcerting for people, and they are bearing this in mind throughout the process.
Conversations will continue, she says, and her door is always open to anyone who has questions about the plans.
Jo and Peter say the extension plans will enable AgeCare Central to continue to offer great care to residents and families, with the benefit of a fully purpose-built space for all their needs now, and in the future.
Peter says the organisation has benefited from the vision and forward thinking of both the Marire board and the Taranaki Electricity Trust (TET).
"We are fortunate the Marire Homes Inc Board has been forward thinking, working hard to ensure its legacy lives on through the many changes over the years. We are also grateful to the trustees of the TET who have seen the value in the work we do and been our main funder for the last 13 years. They, too, have shown their ability to look forwards and invest in the future generations in Stratford who will benefit from this facility."