Dementia unit pause disappoints

A dementia unit planned for Arvida Oakwoods Retirement Village in Richmond has been put on hold indefinitely, leaving residents upset with the decision.

Residents learnt about the decision to shelve plans for the unit last week and their committee chairman Jim Wiseman said it was met with disappointment.

“The dementia unit was going to be the jewel in the crown, but hopefully it is just being delayed.”

The village has been planning a dementia unit for several years and surrounding properties had been purchased for the build. Jim says residents understood it would be built in the next couple of years – after the completion of a dementia unit at Arvida Waimea Plains further down Lower Queen St.

“As soon as (Waimea Plains) was finished they were going to build our one. But that is now on hold. Prices have escalated and they have other things they’re doing around the country.”

In a statement, Arvida chief executive Jeremy Nicoll said that after a thorough evaluation of its plans, the company had decided to put the new care-centre project on hold.

He acknowledged it was disappointing news but said Arvida Oakwoods would continue to operate the 48-bed care centre that provides rest home and hospital-level care. He said the company would revaluate the project once market conditions improve.

Arvida Group is a developer, owner and operator of retirement villages and aged-care facilities throughout New Zealand. The company was formed in 2014 and is one of the country’s larger operators of retirement villages and aged-care facilities.

Arvida Oakwoods’ residents met with management at a meeting last Thursday and Jim says it was a positive meeting, despite many residents being upset by the decision. He says they learnt earlier in the week about the plans to shelve the unit and sent a “very strong letter to show we were disappointed”.

For residents, a dementia unit on site enables them to stay within the community that has been their home and when a partner needs to move into the unit, the other partner can visit easily. Jim says a dementia unit down the road is not preferable, but it is not impossible for partners to visit, especially with the increase in mobility scooters which is enabling elderly people to be more mobile.

He says the shelved plans for the dementia unit will hopefully be a “medium-term problem” rather than a long-term scenario for the village.

The New Zealand Retirement Village and Aged Care report released last year outlined the shortage of aged-care facilities for an ageing population, including dementia-care beds.

As an industry, 65 per cent of retirement villages contained an aged-care facility and only 103 of the 425 villages in the report had dementia-care beds.