The former 89-bed nursing home – vacant since the Bushland Health Group opened the doors to the nearby new Karingal Gardens – is being gutted and transformed into a 40 bed dementia-specific unit.

It will occupy the same footprint as the former nursing home, with the addition of 40 new ensuite bathrooms.

While the shell of the old building is being retained, it is undergoing a total re-build, with some of the former materials, including feature timber, being given new life. The old tiled roof is being replaced with Colorbond.

The $4 million project adjacent to the Bushland Hostel and self-care villas is expected to be completed by May next year and will welcome the first of its new residents shortly after.

Contractor Chris O’Neill has doubled his normal workforce and currently has about 15 tradesmen on site each day, making it one of the busiest worksites in or around Taree at present.

Bushland Health Group’s director of aged care residential services Errol Curran took the Times on an inspection tour of the construction site this week, and the full extent of the project immediately is evident.

Each of the 40 residents will have their own spacious, light and airy room, each with its own ensuite.

The rooms are huge, allowing plenty of space for a bed, bedside table, built-in wardrobes and cupboards, a television if required, a lounge chair or recliner, and some personal memorabilia.

“Having some familiar possessions around them is crucial for people suffering dementia,” Mr Curran stressed.

Each room has its own sliding door access to a private, paved, sunny courtyard, and beyond that the fenced and landscaped gardens.

The walkways linking the rooms are extra-wide, and all lead to a series of common rooms including dining, sitting and lounge areas, along with staff rooms. The dining room has a specially designed commercial servery, where meals prepared at the nearby Bushland Place kitchen will be served.

The unit will have two separate wings each containing 20 resident rooms, with one wing designated for the least specific dementia patients, and the other for more intensive care.

Access to the new unit will be of Bushland Drive, and the main entrance will include a roofed ambulance shelter.

Mr Curran said the unit is being built in response to Australia’s rapidly growing number of people with dementia, and will strengthen Taree’s status as a leading aged care provider on the Mid North Coast.

“It will provide the care needed, for example, a husband or wife whose partner has cared for them at home, who find they reach a stage where they are unable to do so any longer. People are staying at home as long as possible, but when the time comes, we will provide that ongoing level of care.”

He expects an additional 30 staff positions to become available when the complex is full.

The current project is the first part of a $15 million expansion announced by Bushland Health Group last year, which will include continued development at its Warrana Place complex off Wingham Road, construction of self-care villas at Karingal Gardens, and an additional 30 beds at its Banyula Place, Old Bar retirement village.