Out with the new, in with the old

Press, 7 August 1985, Page 3

Out with the new, in with the old

Walking sticks and wheelchairs will replace cots and napkins at Wendover Maternity Hospital when a new owner takes over in late November. The sale of the hospital in Papanui had been confirmed. From late November it would be used as a rest home for elderly people and be renamed Wendover Rest Home, said the new owner, who did not wish to be named. “It’s ironical,” he told “The Press” yesterday, “but it’s the trend — the way New Zealand is going. The country is getting older and there is a lot of need for services for the elderly.” The hospital was bought from Dr Vivienne Croxford, who has owned it since 1972 when it was built.

Dr Croxford said yesterday that the decline in the birthrate had made the hospital uneconomic. No-one was being booked into the hospital for deliveries after November. Expectant mothers need not worry about bed space in other hospitals, however, because there was plenty of room, she said. Dr Croxford’s consulting rooms will remain open. Twenty-nine old people would be catered for in the rest home but anyone needing 24-hour hospital care could not be looked after, said the new owner. He said he wanted to emphasise that the home was not opening to compete with anyone else but to give an added service. Problems with finding

care for a grandparent several years ago had prompted him to consider setting up a rest home. Mrs Suzanne Marshall, who has had 14 years nursing experience, will run the new rest home. She said she was looking forward to putting into practice ideas she had had for several years on how to run a home. “I want it to be like a great big home,” she said. “If there are ladies who wnat to help out in the kitchen to prepare the vegetables, they will be able to, or if there are men who want to work out in the garden, that is fine too.” Involving the residents so that they could enjoy life was extremely important, Mrs Marshall said.