Ryman Healthcare’s Nellie Melba Retirement Village and its dementia care model have scooped top prizes in the Eldercare Innovation Awards 2020 in Singapore.
The Wheelers Hill village, Ryman’s second to open in Victoria, was named Project of the Year in the Residential Aged Care category in the Asia Pacific region.
And the myRyman Life model of dementia care was named Innovation of the Year in the Dementia Care Solution category.
READ MORE:
- Ryman living provides a safe and happy place
- Nellie Melba one of Australia's best
- Care centre keeps family together
Ryman Healthcare Chief Executive Gordon MacLeod said the awards recognised excellence in the Asia Pacific region, and the wins were great recognition for Ryman’s design, construction and operations teams.
“It is fantastic to get recognition in both these awards because they span everything we do, from building beautiful villages to caring for people.
WATCH: Take a look inside the best retirement village project in the Asia-Pacific
“We are unusual in that we design, build and then operate our villages – doing everything we can with our own team. The team includes architects and builders through to nurses, caregivers and gardeners, so everything we build is built based on our own experience.
“A huge amount of teamwork goes into taking a bare piece of land and turning it into an absolutely stunning village like Nellie Melba, which not only provides gorgeous apartments but also the best of care to its residents.
“It is a beautiful village, and a testament not just to its designers, but everyone who has worked and continues to work on it.’’
Ryman Healthcare has been providing specialist dementia care for more than 20 years, and currently has more than 850 dementia beds in New Zealand and Australia.
There are around 400,000 Australians living with dementia, and that's forecast to more than double in the next 30 years.
Ryman’s model of dementia care was developed in conjunction with its residents and families, as well as considering the latest international research.
“The recognition of myRyman Life is reward for a huge amount of innovation and determination from our operations team, whose goal it is to ensure that our residents living with dementia can have the best quality of life possible,’’ Gordon said.
“It has been a huge education project and we couldn’t have done it without the support of our residents and their families, who are as committed to demystifying and destigmatising dementia as we are.
“This year has been an incredibly challenging year because of COVID, and these awards are a wonderful way to end it. I have never been prouder of our team.’’
