Tamahere Eventide – The Christian values of care

In 1965, a group of Methodist Church members founded an organization which came to be known as Tamahere Eventide. This Charitable Trust was created with the vision of providing aged care services enclosed in a Christian setting with strong values of love and compassion. Jack Herbert, a local farmer, donated 16 acres of land for the organisation’s purposes which has since grown into one of the most widely recognized retirement homes and villages in the Waikato region. The Board of Trustees, who all come from the general area, have also managed to increase the lot’s size to 30 acres.

Tamahere Eventide operates within the core ideals of Christian philosophy and it applies those ideals to the everyday running of the facilities. Old age is seen as an intrinsic part of all the previous years that a person has lived as the organisation believes we were all created in the image of God. As such, services are provided regardless of race or culture. The only thing separating the old from the young is that the former require some additional assistance in this stage of their life so the organisation ensures that they have access to all the resources they need and that their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs are always adhered to.

Louis Fick, Tamahere Eventide’s CEO, is very proud of the organisation’s accomplishments as well as work of the Board.

“There are ten board members and whenever there’s a vacancy they look to fill a specific role with a specific level of knowledge. For instance, we have an accountant on board, a lawyer, a nurse, business people. They wish to push the organisation to grow within its Christian values”, Louis comments about the Board.

Since he joined the organisation has grown from 40 staff to 90, from $8 million in assets to $60 million, and to fully occupying 26 acres of the 30-acre land. The knowledgeable Board continuously searches for ways to improve and their mandate is to constantly offer more services to the community, including uncommon ones like rented apartments for the less financially fortunate residents. After all, no person should be left behind simply because they cannot afford to join the community so additional options for everyone is a key practice.

Developing a true community

Another key practice is making sure that the residents feel like they truly belong in a community. On an individual level, each resident has access to a personal trainer who creates individualized programs based on their strengths and preferences, such as exercises to improve balance so as to prevent or at least reduce falls. As another example, activities in the dementia unit run from day to night on a continuous basis so that the residents can always occupy themselves with a range of different events. As a Christian organisation, Tamahere Eventide also has full-time chaplains, church services on site, Sunday Mass from the Catholic Church, and support services for every resident.

Aside from that, the community centre and café are always incredibly active. There are pool tables, pianos, a projector for movies, a library, bowling green, putting green and a lot more sports and recreational facilities available for the residents. The café is also extremely popular for events such as wedding anniversaries and birthdays while the chef also offers a selection of high quality meals at affordable prices. The café, along with other areas and facilities of Tamahere Eventide like the gully, is also open to the general public which means that the facilities are always active and full of life. In addition to that, the organisation runs a day programme where they take members of the community inside the facilities so that they can take advantage of the various services on offer and so that they can possibly become full-time residents in the future.

The highest standards of support and education

The staff of Tamahere Eventide play a huge role in creating an active, safe, and friendly environment for the residents and the organisation has taken some incredible steps to ensure that every single member of the staff is knowledgeable and valued. There is a huge emphasis placed on supporting and encouraging the staff to be their best. In turn, the organisation treats them fairly as individuals. Nurses, caregivers, and other similar professions do fantastic work and they certainly need to be proud of what they achieve in their professional settings.

Supporting professionals of the industry is of utmost importance to the organisation, which is why it created the first community based Dedicated Education Unit (DEU) in partnership with Wintec in July 2015. The concept was quickly embraced by the staff and every single student who has participated in the program speaks very highly of it. The DEU is offered to term 3 nursing students who wish to get hands-on experience in a supportive environment. The students are assisted by both a Clinical Liaison Nurse and an Academic Liaison Nurse. Their combined expertise allows the students to understand both the academic and practical aspects of providing care across the rest home, dementia unit, and community settings.

Moreover, Tamahere Eventide has a 14-month placement program for new nurses in order to attract even more young people into the industry. During their contract, the nurses are immersed into every facility on site while they gain valuable experience in working with the highly trained staff and interacting with the residents. Easing the graduates into this demanding profession provides them with a perfect opportunity to practice their skills and they often seek permanent employment into aged care as a direct result.

“We started with a Dedicated Education Unit where nursing students in their third semester do 4-week placements with us and we take them through all our services and showcase aged care. The benefit is that they would want to work in the aged care sector in the future when they qualify. We also started a new nursing graduate program where we are taking new graduates and put them through their first year of practice with a lot of support and training. Because of that, we have younger nurses who are motivated, knowledgeable, and highly skilled”, says Louis.

Caring for 280 residents

Tamahere Eventide is one of the largest organisations of its kind. Located just at the border of town, the rural setting and beautiful gardens offer an incredible sense of tranquility and peace though the grounds are always active. There are 84 rest home and dementia beds in total, 19 serviced care apartments, 108 retirement village units in the property and a further 10 units in Thames, located about an hour away from the main site. Currently, the organisation is looking to add 48 more hospital beds, 34 apartments, and 20 retirement village units in a newly acquired piece of land.

According to Louis, Tamahere Eventide requires little marketing as word of mouth is all the organisation has really need thus far. Aside from some small marketing campaigns in the radio, the organisation has never felt a need to market itself because they already have waiting lists for every service they offer. Providing excellent levels of care in a friendly environment has allowed them to develop a great reputation within the community which is directly translated into higher occupancy rates.

Though each unit is designed in a different way, they all share a few similarities in order to ensure the safety and security of the residents. For instance, each unit is equipped with an emergency call button and a telephone to enable the residents to call family members and friends whenever they want. Wi-Fi is also available through the property as Tamahere Eventide was purposefully renovated to be technologically sensitive. The emphasis on independent living in the retirement village is augmented via the wide range of activities on offer, including regular outings, exercise groups, and hobby groups. Participation in these activities is entirely voluntary though the residents are usually actively engaged in such processes.

Tamahere Eventide understands that an aging population means that demand for their services will continue to rise. As such, the organisation already has several strategies in place for future expansions. The focus here will be on the bottom end of the market, providing affordable options for everyone. The Christian values will continue to drive their business philosophy and, after completing the aged care hospital, Tamahere Eventide will certainly stay at the top of aged care in Waikato.