74 residents from the original home moved into Catholic Healthcare’s 127-room McQuoin Park home at Wahroonga in October last year after the existing building was replaced.
The new home features a dementia specific unit (DSU) and specifically-trained dementia staff – and residents are already reaping the benefits including Maureen Nichols who moved into the original home in December 2015.
Maureen had found sharing a room with other residents difficult due to anxiety and frequent night-time disturbances and issues associated with her dementia. But now with her own room, daughter Anne says she “really enjoys being in her own space now.”
The new DSU also includes extra features such as doors opening outwards rather than inwards; a circular, closed garden for residents; and memory boxes – a decorative addition to the doorway of residents’ rooms designed to spark memories of their earlier lives.
Care manager Lani Lingatong says the transition has not only made residents happier and more settled, but staff and families too.
“You can have really great care in aged care, but the space and environment does make a difference. We’re lucky that here, we have the best of both.”
Can’t argue with that.
