
Oceania Opens New Dementia Care Centre At Meadowbank Village
The purpose-built centre — named the Ōrākei Building — delivers secure, specialist dementia care within a homelike, supportive environment, enabling residents to remain in the village as their needs change.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Wednesday 4 June to mark the occasion, attended by The Deputy Mayor of Auckland, Desley Simpson, along with prospective residents, their families, and Oceania staff.
The new centre completes Meadowbank Village's care offering, which now spans independent living, rest home, hospital, and specialist dementia care services. Today, Meadowbank is a fully integrated master planned community featuring 193 apartments, 104 care suites and 40 dementia care suites to meet evolving resident needs.
Suzanne Dvorak, Oceania's Chief Executive Officer, said this integrated care approach supports certainty and comfort throughout each resident's care journey.
'At Oceania, we're committed to advancing aged care through more personalised, connected support. The new Ōrākei Building at Meadowbank Village enables residents to access seamless, high-quality care that promotes wellbeing, dignity, and a strong sense of connection throughout every stage of life.'
Designed around a resident-centred care model, the Ōrākei Building features shared kitchens, living spaces, a secure garden, and light-filled communal areas that focus on comfort and sustainability.
The centre has 21 rest home level dementia care suites and 19 hospital level dementia care suites. All suites have been designed to support privacy and promote the independence of residents.
Dementia-friendly design features include calming colour palettes, intuitive layouts, and clear signage to ease navigation and support daily routines.
Oceania's Director of Clinical and Care Services, Shirley Ross, said the centre raises the standard for specialist dementia care in New Zealand.
'The Ōrākei Building at Meadowbank Village brings together clinical excellence, thoughtful design, and Oceania's deep commitment to helping people live with purpose, dignity, and connection at every stage of life,' she said.
'Our integrated, holistic model of care is grounded in truly knowing each resident — their needs, relationships, and what gives them meaning. It's about creating an environment where people with dementia are supported to live well, with autonomy and respect.'
Multi-skilled caregivers will work consistently within each household to foster a sense of safety and belonging.
Residents will benefit from a flexible daily rhythm with activities aligned to Te Whare Tapa Whā, supporting wellbeing across physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

RNZ News
13 hours ago
- RNZ News
Auckland ED nurses say this winter the busiest they have seen
Patients at Middlemore Hospital are often having to stand to wait, say nurses. Photo: LDR / Jarred Williamson Auckland emergency department nurses say this winter is the busiest they have seen - and one wants patients to bombard the government with complaints. The Middlemore and North Shore nurses say patients are arriving sicker and are often having to stand to wait, or be treated in a public thoroughfare. East Auckland woman Karen said she was shocked when she went to Middlemore for a broken bone this month. "One lady was crying in a wheelchair because she couldn't lay down because there were no beds. She had a slipped disk. One chap was telling me he'd been there 24 hours, another 17 hours. One lady did faint. The doctors and nurses rushed out and took her in," she said. Many people were standing, others already had lures in their arms for medicine or fluids, and she helped an elderly woman who needed to elevate her feet but had no spare seat, Karen said. A Middlemore nurse said Karen's description did not surprise her at all. "That sounds like a typical in ED, which is sad to say in the south," she said. RNZ understood there had often been more than 210 patients at Middlemore a day this winter, a number that a few years ago was a record. "There are so many patients sitting in the waiting room in pain and uncomfortable. Sometimes they're walking up and down pacing because they are that uncomfortable. We, as nurses, try to get to them and try and keep them as comfortable as we can," the Middlemore nurse said. She had to attend Middlemore's paediatric ED with her child and said it was incredibly under pressure there as well. On the North Shore, a nurse said the hospital system to measure the patient to staff ratio, showed the ED has regularly been at 200 percent capacity in the past few weeks. She was always running, she said. The department was designed to prevent patients being treated in corridors - but now they were filling them anyway. She had to ask personal medical questions when others were in earshot - and even took heart readings, known as ECGs, in the corridor. "I've got a gentleman who's not even in a stretcher, he's elderly, he's had a collapse, we don't know what's caused it and I'm having to bare his chest and hook him up to a machine. Now, that's just not on," she said. Another North Shore hospital nurse said the patients were sometimes being treated in a corridor outside the department in what was "a public fairway". Like other health staff in the region, she agreed that this winter was the worst conditions had been. She felt like she could not give patients the full attention and dignity they deserved and that was heart wrenching. While some people would get angry, most were very polite and understanding. "I just wish these people would bombard the government with complaints. They almost just accept that this is how it is because they don't want to upset us [the nurses]," she said Karen, the Middlemore patient, wanted Prime Minister Christopher Luxon or Health Minister Simeon Brown to spend a day at the hospital to see what it was really like. She just wanted them to prioritise the health system, she said. Brown said he regularly visited hospital emergency departments and knew many people waited too long. The government was already taking action, he said. It was focusing on shorter ED wait time targets and was investing in GP level care to try to help people get care before they need an ED. Frontline health workers were doing an incredible job, Brown said. The nurses agreed investment in primary care was crucial because many ED patients were turning up sicker, and with more complex medical conditions. All the nurses in this story were speaking as members of the Nurse's Organisation, which meant they had some protection. RNZ approached the union after hearing multiple accounts from other patients or hospital workers about EDs in Auckland this winter. Te Whatu Ora/ Health NZ was asked for winter capacity figures for emergency departments in all the country's main centres nearly two weeks ago but it said it would take time to provide them. It wanted to reassure people in the region that if they need urgent hospital-level care they would never be turned away. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
School calendar set to change in Samoa as schools closed for another week
Photo: 123RF Samoa's Ministry of Education and Culture chief executive A'eau Christopher Hazelman says the school term calendar is set to change due to prolonged dengue-related closures. Primary school students in Samoa will have a fourth week of school closure next week, while years 8 to 12 are going into a third week. A'eau said the week of 11 August would have been week three of term three. "Beginning from our ECE (early childhood education) centres through the years one to year seven, they have not had any classes over the last three weeks," he said. "On the first week of term three we had the years eight right up to year 12. "I want to make sure that people understand that the moment cabinet activated the NEOC - the National Emergency Operations Committee - this is when we now follow the law, the actual Act and the frameworks of NEOC within government - hence the ministry will not make a decision by itself." A'eau said T-Vet providers and those in universities have also been affected. He also thanked school teachers and principals for making classes available online, but said they need to look at changes. Further adding to the time, the government has announced public holiday on 28 and 29 August for the general election . "We now have to look at making amendments and changes to our school calendar," A'eau said. "I want to make this very clear to all schools and to all parents - we are going to change the school calendar, even to the point that there may be no school holidays between term three and term four to make up the time." A'eau said they will also look at changing the dates of the national assessments. There have been six dengue-related deaths and nearly 8000 clinically-diagnosed cases recorded in Samoa since January.

RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Age Concern branch cutting some services as survey shows
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly The Wellington Branch of Age Concern says it has had to cut services due to an overall reduction in government funding and increased demand for financial help from service providers. At the same time a sector survey has set out the increasing need for support among the older population. A report by the insurance company, New Zealand Seniors, indicates that 2 out of 5 older people feel their quality of life has declined in the past 2 years. Financial security is said to be a major concern, with 60 percent reporting it as a key factor. The survey, involving 500 New Zealanders over the age of 50, suggests the situation is being worsened by difficulties in accessing timely healthcare and increasing social isolation, which is leading to a decline in mental well-being. Susie is joined by the CEO of Age Concern Auckland Kevin Lamb.