Based on international ‘dementia villages’ including the well-known De Hogeweyk village in the Netherlands, the $25 million Korongee village at Glenorchy will feature 15 homes complete with a real supermarket, cinema, café, beauty salon and gardens.
These amenities will be open to both residents and the local community, with residents able to move freely around the village which will recreate the look of a classic Tasmanian cul-de-sac.
The project – expected to be completed in 2019 – is being developed by aged care provider Glenview Community Services, industry super fund HESTA and the Federal Government.
So why did they decide to build it?
Real-life experiences proven to help
Glenview CEO Lucy O’Flaherty says that the De Hogeweyk model has been shown to help residents live longer and need less medications.
“At Korongee we won’t have any institutional routines – residents will be allowed to wake up and move about their day in their own time and in freedom. If they want to make themselves a piece of toast in the middle of the night, they can do that,” she said.
Each of the 15 homes will be tailored to different local lifestyles – so if a person has worked as a tradesman, they’ll be able to keep their early start. More ‘creative folk’ will be able to rise later.
The homes will also be staffed by health professionals who will act as ‘home makers’ rather than nurses.
It’s a very different model to traditional dementia care, but as its backers say, we need to be proactive. With the number of people with dementia expected to rise to over 1.1 million by 2056, it’s a good place to start.
