Page 572 - Week 02 - Thursday, 20 February 2020
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Conchords. Ninety per cent of its annual program of 60 to 70 shows are New Zealand and world premieres.
One of the things that struck me about Wellington is that, even though it has been affected by a number of earthquakes in recent years, the city’s arts and culture scene is still vibrant and a key part of its identity. Public art can be found throughout the city, as well as murals and artistic hoardings around construction sites. On my last day in Wellington, I was invited to attend the National Commemoration to mark the 101st Anniversary of the Signing of the Armistice. It was a deeply moving ceremony and I was honoured to be able to lay a wreath on behalf of the people of the ACT.
In Rotorua, I was particularly keen to visit the CARE Village, which is the first village-style dementia care home to be built outside the Netherlands to pioneer this style of social-based aged care. The village is exactly that: a collection of custom-built homes in a secure and beautiful community on the shores of Lake Rotorua, each designed in a different style or era to suit the previous lifestyles of its six occupants so that they will feel comfortable and at ease in familiar surroundings.
Each house has a resident housekeeper-carer who cooks and does housework for their six residents and the residents are able to lead normal lives, helping with the cooking, grocery shopping, laundry or gardening if they wish, going for walks and to the village café. There are nurses and other carers onsite plus a GP and handyman visiting daily, and care staff are encouraged to bring pets and children and grandchildren to work with them.
Vulnerable residents are protected with subtle technology to prevent them from wandering off unaccompanied and to monitor them overnight for falls. Residents I met with in their homes were happy, relaxed, and healthy. It was a truly inspirational visit, showing that there are effective alternative models to institutional care that allow people to live out their later years in dignity and wellbeing.
Rotorua is a recognised dementia-friendly city. While I was there, I was able to meet the local mayor, Steve Chadwick, about how this had eventuated and how it is lived out, and I also visited the Rotorua Lakes Council Customer Centre, which is much like our Access Canberra service centres, and Rotorua Library to view best practice customer service. Packing a lot into one day in Rotorua, I also visited an intergenerational playgroup at The Gardens Care Home and met with the Dementia-Friendly Rotorua Steering Group.
Another key goal of my trip was to visit the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court in Waitakere, in west Auckland. This court was one of the key inspirations for the ACT’s own newly established Drug and Alcohol Court. I was hosted for the day most generously by Her Honour Lisa Tremewan, who graciously allowed me to sit in both closed and open proceedings of a full day of the court, observing each case for the day as she dealt with each individual offender with compassion and cultural sensitivity as well as high expectations.
Many of her “graduates” of the court attended on the day I visited to support current participants and update Judge Tremewan by sharing their stories. It was great to see
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