NewDirection Care is announcing their revolutionary microtown™ community for Australian seniors with complex care needs including those with younger onset dementia. Nestled between Brisbane and Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, the state-of-the-art residential care community is the world’s first and most innovative, inclusive care community.

At NewDirection Care Bellmere, residents are encouraged to be independent, interactive and involved with a focus on ablement, catering to individual schedules, needs and freedom.

The need for residential care communities like NewDirection Care in Australia is becoming more apparent. Over the next few decades, Australia’s ageing population will have significant impacts on the nation’s health care system, workforce and housing. The residential aged care sector alone needs to build 83,500 new places by 2025 at an estimated investment of $35B (ACFA Report 2017).

NewDirection Care Founder and CEO Natasha Chadwick, says “NewDirection Care is just the beginning of an ongoing journey and innovative change in aged care. Our residential care community in Bellmere is pioneering and shattering the mindset of a traditional aged care facility. My aim and that of NewDirection Care is to change the way we care for our elderly members of society and those living with dementia, not just in Australia but worldwide.”

With over 20 years’ experience, Chadwick identified the need for a paradigm shift in the aged care industry. In 2011 Chadwick first began conceptualising NewDirection Care, “Having worked in the aged care industry for two decades I realised that incremental improvements are no longer enough. We need to radically rethink how we look after the elderly and those living with dementia. The current traditional aged care model is no longer relevant in the world we live in today.”

NewDirection Care Bellmere is an alternative model of full-service aged care with a focus on wellness, revolutionary non-institutionalised schedules, services and lifestyle options. After extensive research around the world, Chadwick took inspiration from the best practices that she witnessed firsthand. With NewDirection Care, Chadwick created her own unique community where residents can enjoy a freedom of life different from other aged care communities. NewDirection Care’s living model offers a vastly different experience to that of traditional aged care facilities. Today, it is the first of its kind worldwide.

In its initial testing phase in 2014, Chadwick opened two houses in Tasmania, inviting residents to assess the innovative changes. Residents reported a significantly positive experience and improvements in their quality of their life and that of their visiting families.

The success of the test model in Tasmania led to the development of NewDirection Care Bellmere, a microtown™ and just like any small town in Australia, it includes a corner store, café, cinema, hair salon, barber shop, music room and a wellness centre featuring a gym, spa, dental and GP facilities. The microtown™ currently caters to 17 uniquely designed houses

that will be home to 120 residents, providing them with a normal life, where the freedom of home follows you™.
The community features elegant seven-bedroom homes each with ensuite bathrooms and spacious built-in wardrobes, open plan kitchens with the latest appliances, family dining rooms, cosy sitting rooms and private gardens, making them a place in which families immediately feel at home. Each home is thoughtfully designed to be stylish, functional, and caters specifically to the residents’ individual needs. Every house has an individual style be it country living, modern urban, traditional or progressive to suit whatever compliments a resident’s current lifestyle.

To support “the freedom of home” each home has House Companions™, a unique 24/7 role and a world first in aged care. House companions are multi skilled and trained in complex care and dementia care needs, medication administration, cleaning, laundry and personal care. They are also in charge of nutrition and prepare the meals in the house kitchen, in consultation with residents. House Companions are supported by a 24/7 Professional Services Team including Registered Nurses, Dementia Support, Physiotherapist and various allied health services.

In addition to this, the technology developed and employed throughout the community enables mobile monitoring of residents to ensure their safety. The mobile monitoring system is also a first and incorporates, telephony, personalised monitoring, CCTV in semipublic and public spaces and movement sensors; all captured on a simple dashboard which will alert the team when a resident requires assistance.

NewDirection Care supports individuality and being part of a community that revolves around meaningful relationships. To ensure residents feel at home, Chadwick developed a cuttingedge profiling tool that draws out an individual’s social world-view and personality traits with a focus on factors that influence living and interacting with others. This ensures that residents live with like-minded people.

“NewDirection Care at Bellmere is a tribute to the thousands of people who have shared their stories at the end of their life with me over the years and these stories are part of what drove and inspired me to create a new aged care model.” says Natasha.

The audio of the interview also looks at the inspiration and the building blocks on getting to this stage of the journey by Natasha and where interest is coming from on a world wide scale. It also discusses the invaluable impact it is making on the Greater Caboolture community with its innovative inclusion.

Listen here