Our Community Innovation Lead, Kena Duignan, has written a report looking at what’s been happening at Wesley Rātā Village since we made the difficult decision to close our resthome and hospital in Naenae in August 2017.
Tō Tātau Haerenga Whakahou: Wesley Rātā Village Our Journey of Renewal outlines our progress to date, our theories of change, our collaborations, the lessons we’ve learned and the mahi ahead. It also shares some key facts and figures and some of the stories that bring them to life.
Significant achievements at the Village so far include:
- starting an $8.4m project to build 25 social houses that will be available to rent by people on the National Housing Register
- hosting the Kiwi Can Do job-skills training course in our old hospital building. Participants will help assemble the 25 prefabricated houses being built on the site.
- continuing to host the Rātā Playgroup and started a new playgroup, Ngā Weriweri ō Naenae Nature Playgroup. We also won a contract with the Ministry of Education to run the Incredible Years parenting course at the Village in 2019.
- designing and running a successful 10-week Ageing Well course for isolated older people in a dementia-friendly environment
- hosting 126 events and having 1040 visits, many of them repeat visits by people who regularly engage with us
- partnering with the Naenae Nature Trust to plant 250 trees (with a focus on Rākau Rangatira – chiefly trees) and bring people into nature to connect and be inspired.