Respite House update – innovative and exciting times :-)

On Friday 18 July, WAHT chairperson Susanne along with WAHT trustee Carolyn were very privileged to meet a whanau using the Respite House which WAHT has established in partnership with the Tiaho Trust.  Also at the meeting was Jonny Wilkinson, founder and CEO of the Taiho Trust and Denise Piper, multimedia journalist and news reporter for the Northern Advocate. The whanau present were Odette Keet and her 19 year old disabled son Jordan Keet-Lee (see photos below).

The Keet whanau are thrilled with having a service where they have confidence that their young disabled family member can be well cared for whilst they take a well earned break from their carer roles. Tikipunga mother Odette is keen to sing the praises of the new service and will be encouraging others to use it. The whānau have already used the service with Keet-Lee’s regular caregivers, including a few days when Odette had to rush to Auckland for a family emergency.

Jonny Wilkinson said his disability advocacy organisation, Tiaho Trust, had been worried about the lack of options for respite facilities for some time. A survey conducted by Taiho Trust in 2023 showed about 20% of whānau were not accessing the respite care they were entitled to, due to availability or suitability issues. The survey also highlighted a severe shortage of respite options for disabled people in Northland. This was strongly exacerbated in March 2024 when Whaikaha – Ministry for Disabled People introduced restrictions on the use of flexible funding, changing purchase rules for Individualised Funding and the way respite care could be utilised.

WAHT is renting one of our three bedroom accessible homes to the Taiho Trust, aiming to improve respite care availability. The house is in central Whangarei and is fully furnished with equipment such as an adjustable bed, hoist and shower chair. This will initially be a six month trial to assess what demand there is for such a facility. WAHT are delighted to be involved in this new venture.

Taiho Trust will coordinate the bookings for the respite facility and can be contacted by the options below:

For the full story and further in-depth details please click on the link below for the excellent article in the Northern Advocate written by Denise Piper:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/on-the-up-unique-whangarei-service-meets-need-for-respite-options-for-disabled/DQU5OVOD25DMXHN6436MWGK4LU/#google_vignette

Below are photos of the respite home’s facility along with furnishings:

Pictured above is respite facility user Odette Keet (back right) and her 19 year old son Jordan Keet-Lee along with his support worker Sheena (front right).