Elmswood Rest Home residents suffering from dementia are making use of the ‘unique' garden area following the opening of the newly refurbished $65,000 support unit.

The Oceania Group opened its Memory Loss Support Unit – a secure dementia unit – at Elmswood Rest Home on Waihi Rd yesterday evening.

Elmswood resident 93-year-old Edward 'Eddie' McCarthy 'mowing the grass” and Lesley Sparke keeps an eye on him. Photo by Bruce Barnard.

Melrose Lifestyle Care and Village and Elmswood Rest Home business and care manager Lesley Sparke says the Oceania Group decided earlier this year to undergo a refurbishment of the worn-out secure dementia unit at Elmswood.

The 12-week refurbishment, costing about $65,000, saw the old 12-bed secure dementia unit at Melrose, relocated to a newly refurbished 18-bed secure unit at Elmswood.

Lesley says the unit is the only one in a Tauranga rest home to offer a 700 m2 secure garden area, where residents can wander at their leisure while families are reassured their family member remains safe.

'What we've given them is a sense of freedom,” says Lesley. 'We've got bus stops in there, a post box and a lawn mower.”

While that sounds silly to some people, Lesley says pushing a lawn mower and waiting at the bus stop provides a sense of normality for the residents.

'It's trying to create a sense of some of the normal things we do that people – without realising it – often take for granted.”

Lesley says the unit is significant to the city because it meets the needs of dementia patients.

'We know that dementia is increasing, and statistically it will continue to increase.”

The unit was officially opened by Minister of Health Tony Ryall, with Tauranga MP Simon Bridges and Tauranga City Mayor Stuart Crosby also in attendance.