Elderly find home in new unit

The Edale Home for the elderly in Marton is run by the not-for-profit charitable Edale Trust. Chronicle journalist Merania Karauria (above) and photographer Tracey Grant went to Rangitikei town to talk to trust members and Goff Briant of the Dudding Trust that has given a generous donation toward the new dementia unit at the Bond St site. This unique business model is a working success for the residents and the community.
Elderly patients with dementia will now have a place to call theirs at the Edale Home in Marton.
Thanks to a generous donation of $60,000 from the Dudding Trust and $30,000 from the Powerco Trust, the new dementia unit for nine residents is nearing completion.
Those already living in Edale will be assessed, and moving along the passageway into the secure unit will be a seamless transition without disruption to the elderly.
Edale nurse manager Felicity Reid said the unit would be like their own home and will have a living area, shower and toilet and a quiet room. There would also be a dining area, a lounge and a kitchenette.
Meals would be brought through from the rest home.
The residents will each have a single bedroom.
Complementing the indoor unit will be outdoor living in a secure yard, complete with vegetable garden, making the space as much like home as the designers in consultation with the home staff could make it.
Mrs Reid said there would be enough stimulus but not too much because those with dementia required a lot of structure so within that [structure] the residents could function extremely well.
Staff travelled to other dementia units in Feilding and the Kapiti Coast and brought back "some good ideas" to incorporate into the Edale unit.
Maxine Rowatt was a very experienced nurse in dementia care, and other staff also had input.
Edale Trust member Gill Burne said the rest home was a gem for Rangitikei.
"We have been quietly going on with our core business and we have plans to renovate and upgrade the rest home."
Meanwhile, other homes in the Rangitikei region had closed.
At the end of last year Ruanui Rest Home for the elderly in Taihape was the latest in closures that had been distressing for the residents and their families.
The building and refit of the secure unit beds will be finished at the end of March and then it requires the tick of approval from the District Health Board and Ministry of Health before the residents move in.
Edale has 21 rest home beds, nine dementia beds and 20 individual one-bedroom flats.
Edale Trust board member Gill Burne said the individual flats formed a unique business model where the tenants had a tenancy agreement with the trust and they could bring their carers from the community who looked after them.
Each flat had an alarm bell connected to the rest home with a staff member on-call 24 hours.
And for the elderly who want to be near a community but still have independence, there is Hadfield Court, where they can build their own homes.