Two new care homes

For families considering moving a loved one into aged residential care, it can mean entering a chapter that feels unfamiliar and maybe even overwhelming. But new care home designs are changing what families can expect when they walk through the front doors.

“Many people arrive with perceptions of aged care,” says Sheena Benitez, the nurse manager at Care Home.

“I’ve had people tell me they’d never move their parents into care, only to visit this building and say, ‘Wow, this has changed so much since my grandparent’s generation.’

“Fairway Gardens care home has been designed for modern, quality living, and it’s a very comfortable place to be.”

Benitez came to aged care 13 years ago from a background in acute nursing in the Philippines. The shift changed how she understood what caring for someone really means.

“My initial exposure to nursing had always been about cure, cure, cure,” she says. “Then I came to aged care, and it was very different. It had a strong focus on companionship and delivering genuine care. It’s helping your resident live their best life as much as possible, for as long as possible.”

Fairway Gardens Care Home in Botany and Parkside Care Home in Hillsborough are two brand-new care homes opening in Metlifecare villages in the coming weeks.

While each serves a different, but equally vibrant village community, both offer a full continuum of care, including rest home, hospital level, and specialised dementia care.

They are also united by the same Metlifecare philosophy: aged care that is deeply personal, relationship-led, and built around the individual.

What families are looking for

Personalised care gets to the heart of what families are really looking for – not just clinical competence, but genuine trust and connection.

Benitez describes great care as knowing the small things about her residents: what TV show they like to watch, or whether they enjoyed Country Calendar on Sunday evening.

“We all have identities and they don’t leave us when we enter an aged care facility,” says Benitez. “Great care is truly knowing our residents – what they like, what they dislike, the little things that matter to them.”

An example of this is Benitez’s encouragement for residents to continue to dress the way they always have – not default to a generic “cardigan and slacks” or a track suit just because it’s more convenient for the staff who assist dressing them.

“One of the biggest things for me is still giving people choices,” says Benitez.

“For some people, clothing and appearance can really matter. Someone who always took pride in how they looked before coming into care shouldn’t lose that.

“I don’t expect my team to be stylists,” she smiles. “But we will work together with their families so residents can continue expressing who they are.”

It’s exactly the kind of care Metlifecare’s model – care together, manaaki ngātahi – is built on. Not care delivered to someone, but care built around who they are.

With New Zealand’s population of over-75s set to more than double in the next two decades, the demand for care beds – and for care that genuinely supports dignity and independence – has never been greater. Metlifecare has grown from 400 care beds to over 1100 in the last five years, with more on the way.

The new Parkside and Fairway Gardens’ care homes represent a future whereby moving into care doesn’t mean leaving your identity and your dignity behind.