| 27 T T Russell Fredric Demand drives expansion at Ribbonwood Ribbonwood’s Julia Body, left, and Karen McHutchon. West Otago Health: Cook Brothers REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Aotea Electric Southern is proud to be associatedwith Cook Brothers Construction andWest OtagoHealth Aotea Electric Southern 03 455 1039 | aoteaelectric.co.nz West Otago Health Suppliers & Installers of: • Tray roofing • Corrugate / 5 Rib • True Oak • Rooflogic System • TPO & Torch on membrane roofing • Metrotile • Windsor Garage Doors • Premier Insulation • Scaffolding P: 03 445 0553 • E: info@extremeroofing.co.nz With professional tradespeople servicing Southland, Central and West Otago, we are your one point of call for residential, commercial or industrial projects. ConcreteMasonry | Tiling&Waterproofing Clay Brick Veneer | Architectural Plaster Systems Your first stop for all: • Interior & Exterior Painting • Plaster Board Stopping • Wall Papering • Fabric Hanging We Cover Southland, Central Otago & Fiordland Town or Country • Commercial & Domestic Kim: 027 433 6278 admin@mcdpaint.co.nz Tony: 027 489 3583 PO Box 179, Gore Agents for All Workmanship Guaranteed Member of Master Painters NZ Strong demand for aged care in Tapanui has led to the extension of West Otago Health Ltd’s Ribbonwood Country Home. The extension has added five bedrooms to Ribbonwood as well as a lounge, a family room and a hairdressing and podiatry studio. Located on the rural edge of Tapanui, northeast of Gore, Ribbonwood provides a homely environment for residents and visitors. It was first opened in 2014 after a mammoth community effort to see the much needed facility established for the town’s 2,300 residents. Built at a cost of $3.25 million, the original building provides 14 rooms for residential accommodation, respite, hospital and palliative care as well as space for a range of in-house and community medical services, supporting administration and a helipad. West Otago Health chairman Allister Body says prior to Ribbonwood being completed, there were no elder care options for the town and immediate district within a reasonable radius, and it quickly garnered an occupancy rate of about 98%. “We’ve been pretty full within six months of opening.” Because of this demand, the need for more rooms was clear, while it was also well recognised it could be difficult and stressful for families to find, and have to place relatives, in distant care facilities. “The original purpose was to give people in West Otago the option of staying here if they wanted to and, for a number of people, we weren’t able to meet that because essentially, we were full all the time. “From an economic point of view, more rooms allows us to spread costs over a wider base so economically it made good sense for us to build some more rooms. However, we haven’t built it to make money, we’ve built it to give them options; somewhere nice to stay in their later years.” The $1.65 million extension was built by lead contractor Cook Brothers Construction who built the original facility. Because of the established and ongoing relationship with Cook Bros and their proven record of professionalism and being easy to work with, it made sense to contract them for the extension, Allister says. “Given that we are spending other people’s money, and a lot of it, we like to have fairly rigid processes. We had a rigid builder and architect selection process the first time round, and Cooks and Oakley Gray were the winning combination from that process, and we have stayed in touch with them all the way through. “While it’s a new building, it’s almost a cookie-cutter of the existing one so there’s no point in reinventing the wheel.” Funding sources for the project include the Clutha District Council, West Otago Health trading surpluses, West Otago Health trust which owns the land the facility is sited on, and about $300,000 from community fundraising. It was almost guaranteed there would be another extension in the future, but there was the likelihood of this being self-funded, Allister says. “We’d like to think that any future work should be able to stand up on its own, that we should be able to support that from the business, that’s certainly our intention at this point.”
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