Dementia village would fill a need

Nearly 70,000 New Zealanders are living with dementia, according to Alzheimers New Zealand, and by 2050 it’s projected to be 170,000. Swell. And, for the record, these forecasts are significantly higher than previous estimates.

It’s hardly as though we’re doing swimmingly right here, right now. A desperately heavy burden is already weighing upon not only those who are themselves caught in the condition, but those who love them and are trying, so very hard, to help them retain as much independence, dignity and happiness as they can.

All of which is happening in the midst of a rapidly increasing proportion of elderly in our population, with all the attendant infirmities.

The nation’s health strategists, including the Southern District Health Board, take the view that unless there is absolutely good clinical reason, home is to be the preferable choice to institutional care.

Well, obviously. Providing – and it’s a big proviso – there’s sufficient functional support. For its part, this is a view the Alzheimers society endorses, and not for humanitarian reasons alone. The group points out new models of care that might delay entry into residential care could achieve cost benefit ratios of 6.6 times the alternative.

Note that word ‘‘delay’’. The need for residential care will in so many cases be able to be fended off for only so long before residential care becomes an imperative. Each community must face up to this.

This we know, surely. And not because people have been paying close attention to the statistics. It’s because the hurting, the exhausting attempts at coping, are becoming so commonplace it’s all-but unmissable.

So it’s little wonder that a burst of applause has greeted the news that the HW Richardson Group and Calvary Hospital Southland are working on a proposal to build a multi-million-dollar dementia care village on the former Hawthorndale School site in Invercargill, which the group now owns.

Richardson Group has become an extraordinarily active and consequential presence in the city, through the tourist attractions it has already provided and the massive inner-city redevelopment in which it has partnered with the Invercargill City Council.

Yes, this is still a business but there’s also an element of the personal in this recently revealed initiative.

HWR group director Scott O’Donnell’s father had lived with dementia before his death and as his condition developed he’d needed to keep changing rest homes – transitions particularly distressing for dementia patients.

The model proposed for this new village is one providing flexibility within a single community – perhaps 12 separate homes each housing residents requiring similar levels of care, adopting what does appear to be a civilised Dutch concept, the De Hogeweyk village.

The Richardson Group is providing the project a serious kickstart and – this time the notable word is ‘‘ideally’’ – in time Calvary, as well as running the $25-$30 million facility, would fully own it.

It’s a serious undertaking and even with the considerable impetus the Richardson support provides, the hospital will still need to find its share of the funds required. It is understood to be several weeks from a final decision. Fair enough. However, it is a project to be wished well – not only for what it will itself provide, but for the operational example it presents.