Jim O’Brien
Reports on a rural enterprise that’s proving dementia doesn’t have to spell the end of independent living
IT IS hard to know where to begin when describing CareBright, a social care enterprise based in rural Limerick employing 250 staff and caring for 800 people, the vast majority of whom live in their own homes.
In the last few months the organisation opened a pioneering residential care facility for people living with dementia at Bruff in Co Limerick. Based on a ‘household care model’ developed in the Netherlands, the bright, modern and welcoming complex is the first of its kind in Ireland.
Colette Ryan, general manager of CareBright, knows where it all started. “It began as a FÁS scheme in 1997 and 1998 in Hospital in Co Limerick where the participants on the scheme provided home help for older people in their own homes,” she recalls.
The scheme moved to Churchtown in north Cork, becoming a social economy project with the help of Ballyhoura Development, the local Leader company.
Known as the Rural Community Care Network (RCCN), it developed into a social enterprise under the Community Services Programme with continued support from Ballyhoura.
As the organisation grew, so did its reputation in designing and delivering homecare packages for the HSE and for private clients.
“Our ethos centres around making it possible for people with a range of conditions to remain in their own homes for as long as possible by promoting independence and choice,” Colette says.
CareBright provides care companionship and general support to older people, to people with intellectual disabilities and people in need of post-operative care.
In its latest move, the organisation developed the complex in Bruff to provide a new form of care for people with dementia.
Opened since last March, the campus includes three individual bungalows, a range of communal facilities such as meeting rooms and activity rooms along with hairdressing and personal care facilities. A restaurant provides for the residents and is open to the public.
The complex also houses the administrative offices of CareBright.
“The primary purpose of the development is to provide a home from home for people living with dementia. It is based on a household model pioneered in Hogewey in the Netherlands,” Colette explains.
The village of Hogewey, on the outskirts of Amsterdam, incorporates a community called Hogeweyk made up of 23 houses that are home to 150 people with dementia.
There are six people in each household and, with the support of carers, the residents live a normal life; they go shopping, they help with household chores, pursue their hobbies and get involved in community activities.
“We are applying the Hogewey model,” Colette explains, “but we have modified it to fit the needs of our people. Nevertheless, it is very similar. There are three households here where people live as normal a life as they can. They have their own ensuite bedroom, there is a kitchen, a dining area, a living room, a garden and a utility — just as you would have in any modern home. The only difference is there is always a carer in the house and nearby.”
Colette takes us on a tour of the site and a visit to one of the bungalows. It is a spacious and comfortable house with a standard of finish that I have rarely seen anywhere.
Limerick architect John Quinn applied much of the Dutch design lessons to the development, producing a finished product that is welcoming and homely. Each house includes a range of spaces where people can be together as a household, but it also has a number of nooks and smaller spaces where the residents can have some personal space.
The ensuite bedrooms open
PEOPLE CAN LIVE NORMALLY WITH DEMENTIA. WE USE A HOUSEHOLD RATHER THAN A CLINICAL MODEL