Whangamatā News ran a series of articles on the Moana House and Village on the 5 to 10 year plan. We have published them here on our blog.
In the early days the community came together to establish Moana House it is now a generation later and it's obviously out grown the needs of Whangamatā as we grow as an ageing population.
We spoke with Garth Blake - Fundraising Manager for the project and were told it will be in three stages.
Stage 1 - Demolishing the old cottages to the rear of the facility and building 12 villas there. They will be sold off plans and should self fund.
Stage 2 - On the vacant land now, to build an 80 bed facility there including a dementia unit (currently 47 beds).
Stage 3 - Demolishing the existing rest home and hospital once everyone has moved into the new facility, and building apartments & villas there. A feasibility study is underway now.
Garth told us "One in three people will need a caring facility and as close to home as this is, it will be apparent that someone in your family will need this facility''. "It is not a large commercial entity, it is a community trust, it does not make huge profits like other ventures. It was set up, then it was left and over time the facility is starting to decline and is in need of refurbishment. It obviously needs 80 beds, and this process will be a multiple stage approach."
So this article is about the history of Moana House and Village, then in upcoming editions, we will cover what is happening now and then what is happening in the future.
Moana House and Village is a Charitable Trust (CC11358) established in April 1984 to provide accommodation and care for the older population. The Moana House facility was purpose built as a Community Trust and officially opened in August 1987 and commenced with 36 rest home beds. This enormous undertaking had been accomplished with the support of the community and untiring efforts of volunteers including a major part played by the Lions Club International. With fundraising efforts, loans, grants, and the generosity of benefactors, $750,000 was raised to match the Department of Health subsidy to develop and fit out the building. James and Enid Watt gifted the two hectares of land that Moana House is situated on. Since that time additional services have been developed to cater for the needs of the Whangamatā community. Subsidised meals on wheels were originally supplied five days a week but since the mid 1990’s the subsidy was withdrawn, and the
provision of meals grew to a seven-day service. Day Care and Respite Care have long been an important part of our service provision.
With the increasing care needs of the aged population, it became evident that hospital level beds were needed, and this resulted in the building of an eleven-bed hospital facility in 1992 named the Willson Wing (named after Stan Willson). As the main Moana House facility was completed, the community suggested the development of independent accommodation for the elderly to rent and shortly thereafter the building of eight cottages commenced. This was the beginning of the Willson Gardens Village complex. A further fourteen two-bedroom units were then built with the first leases entered into in 2001. With changing national strategies and societal expectations regarding care of the older person, it was considered prudent to reconfigure the Moana House complex to enable development of serviced apartments. At the beginning of 2006 five rest home beds were closed to make way for two serviced apartments.
This development concluded in 2011 when a further two were built making a total of four serviced apartments. Construction of another ten-bed hospital wing then commenced bringing the total number of hospital beds to 20. This development was opened in April 2009 and was called the Stewart Wing (named after Rex Stewart). To complement the range of services provided, a long sought-after primary care Inpatient service was introduced in April 2008.