Care villa vision about to become a reality

COUNTLESS hours of work by the Heathcote Dementia Alliance are set to be rewarded when a prototype care villa, Costerfield House, is delivered at the end of this month.

Ahead of the building’s arrival, a ceremonial ground breaking held last week was a chance for the project’s supporters to gather and celebrate the milestone for dementia care in the region.

Mandalay Resources representative Ross Laity, former HDA board member and dementia carer Bill Weiss, and Heathcote Health CEO Dan Douglass all took a turn with a spade.

HDA president Sandra Slatter said it had been an incredible journey.

“We were just so thrilled that it’s finally happening, and everyone understands and appreciates the amount of work that’s gone into getting it to this stage,” she said.

“We’ve had COVID, we’ve had the Royal Commission making changes to aged-care funding, we’ve had floods and we’ve had escalated costs.”

Building that will make up Costerfield House is currently under construction in Red Cliffs near Mildura and will arrive at lock-up stage for finishing touches, however getting it to Heathcote has required careful planning.

“It’s coming on a huge truck,” Ms Slatter said. “It’s 15 metres long by just on five metres wide.

“It’s not just a straight journey because they have to go on certified roads, so it’ll take a while to get here.

“The next exciting thing is that we’re actually going to have local tradies and the community help fit it out.”

Costerfield House will be sited on the Heathcote Health Campus next to the Men’s Shed and will eventually be surrounded by a therapy garden.

It is designed for external durability, easy maintenance, familiarity within a rural setting and to be adaptive to different environments.

The internal furniture, fittings and fixtures will consist of distinct colours and contrasting hues and spaces will have a clear purpose.

Doors will be colour coded, light switches and electrical sockets contrasted and positioned to be easily accessible, and transparent cupboard doors will make it easy to identify contents.

Cutting-edge artificial intelligence and assistive technology will also play an important part.

Ms Slatter said that when completed it would be a living lab; a display home where people would be able to find the latest up-to-date information on technology for independent living, as well as resources on dementia care, pathways, supports and services.

HDA board member and architect Simon Drysdale will watch over the final stages of the fit out in Heathcote.

“We are working towards receiving the gold standard certification for dementia design from the world-renowned Dementia Services Development Centre in the UK, one of the very few in Australia,” he said.

A care villa cluster has already been set up in Merbein, near Mildura, and HDA is aiming to establish a similar arrangement in Heathcote in the longer term.

Care villas can also be located on individual properties, allowing for in-home care in a familiar environment.

Ms Slatter said HDA had raised around $200,000, which had paid for the villa, and she praised the efforts of individuals and groups who had helped them reach this amount.

“The O’Keefe Challenge presented us with a cheque for $6500 on Thursday,” she said. “This is the third time in the last three years we’ve had a donation of that size from them.

“It just shows commitment from people in the community.”