Kāpiti based Home4All is a community-based day-care facility aiming to bring pride, joy and respect to people in their early stages of Dementia by inspiring and supporting them to use their skills in a homely, social environment.
Hosted by Jan and Marian Westrate, Home4All is located in a traditional New Zealand homestead on 3000 m2 of land in central Raumati. The property has a flower garden, a large workshop, vegetable patches and animals to care for.
The normal household activities provide cognitive stimulation and physical exercise in a very natural way and the coffee and meal times provide important social interactions. At the end of the day we want our visitors to feel content, valued and respected.
Marian has been a district nurse on the Kāpiti Coast and Jan has been a healthcare consultant and holds a PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Both of them have 40 years of healthcare experience having worked in the Netherlands and the UK before coming to New Zealand.
In 2022 they started the first Green Care Farm in New Zealand for people living in their early stages of Dementia.
Jan says the Raumati Home4All is based on the Green Care Dutch model.
“Our primary aim is to make sure the people who come here leave having had a happy day.”
Jan says volunteers also play a role.
“We are lucky to have volunteers who also have expertise and compassion and make this a fun and creative place.”
One of the volunteers when KCNews visited was Iain McIsaac of Kāpiti firm Green Van Solar.
“I was at a meeting and was really impressed with the work they are doing. I was happy to offer installing new lights that were needed,” says Iain who was also on hand with Craig Howarth of Green Van to help out with the new paint job on the workshop.
About Home4All
Home4All can host 8-10 visitors in a safe environment that is familiar to them; they offer activities to match their former environments, professions and/or hobbies. This increases their quality of life, keeps them mobile and makes them feel valued. It is the essence of Home4All.
For more see: https://home4all.co.nz
And thanks to www.greenvan.co.nz