Newspaper Article – $3m to be spent rebuilding Eversley

$3m to be spent on rebuilding Eversley

Eversley Home in Hastings will be rebuilt at a cost of $3-million.

The Presbyterian Support Service’s home will feature large bedrooms, each with en suite bathrooms. It will cater for 36 residents, seven more than at present, and its total area will be 2083 square metres.

Support’s chief executive officer Roydon Day said that while the Eversley still met legal standards it had come to the end of its economic life.

“We have carried out a careful study of the future needs of the elderly in Hastings over the next 20 years and it is clear that more beds for those requiring continuous care are needed now and will increase from now on.”

He said the charm and character of the original building would be maintained in the new home.

The redevelopment will begin next month and is expected to be completed in 14 months.

During the staged programmed 19 residents will remain at Eversley while 10 will be moved to a refurbished wing at Duart’s Aged Care Centre in Havelock North.

Apart from large lounges and recreational rooms, which will be available for community use, there will be many small sitting areas, a television room, and a chapel. Internal courtyards will allow more light and create interest throughout the year.

An attractive secure area will be available for dimentia [dementia] sufferers.

The self-contained “stepping stone” accommodation where elderly people can convalesce after illness before returning home – a feature of the present Eversley site – will also be incorporated in the new Eversley.

Eversley was Support’s first residential home for the elderly and had been operating since 1952. The organisation is the largest provider of residential aged care in the East Coast with seven homes from Gisborne to Dannevirke.

Photo captions –

Lesley Cowan, centre right, explains redevelopment plans to, from left, Judy Munro, Hetty Lean, Lena McAulay, Iris Langford, Irene MacDonald, Ruth Aldrich, Barney Smith, Ester [Esther] Tucker and Ellen Dann.

An artist’s impression of the development.