Source: Radio New Zealand
Melanna House has been closed since September. Supplied
Waiheke Island’s only respite care house for kids with disabilities has closed, leaving parents who booked their children in for school holiday programmes and overnight stays in the lurch.
Spectrum Care said the service at Melanna House was running at a loss and they made the difficult decision to close it last September.
So far no other provider has filled the gap.
Sixteen-year-old Gen has very high, complex needs and requires round-the-clock care. She has been a regular at Melanna House’s school holiday programme for children with disabilities.
Her mum Christabel Tomlinson said its closure six months ago has had a big impact on the family.
“It made me really consider my ability to continue a full time job. I decided that it wasn’t the best move to continue employment and look after my daughter, in fact that would have been impossible.”
She finished her job at the end of last year to take on the full time care of her daughter because finding carers on the island isn’t easy.
By the end of the summer school holidays, Tomlinson had burned out.
“I realised just how burnt out I was looking after her, it’s relentless and you just feel exhausted and tired and I’ve used more than a month to get back to full health and full energy.”
Andrew Sexton’s son James also needs round-the-clock care. He has complex needs.
He said James has been a regularly at Melanna House for almost a decade and the out-of-home care provided them a much-needed break.
“It’s huge it just gives you some space that you desperately need to rest your mind. James he’s a clapper so he claps all the time and he’s got a very loud clap. Just some quiet time makes you feel a lot better.”
Melanna House has provided parents respite since the early 1990s, under various providers.
“It’s quite an essential service to have one house on the island that should be utilised for the community.”
The house is owned by Kainga Ora and its director of supported homes Lucy Ashby said it was one of 1455 homes it leased nationally to housing and support services providers.
She said the Waiheke house was leased at market rent to the service provider, who must also hold an eligible government funding contract to deliver residential care.
“We are continuing discussions with potential providers to assess whether they can take over this service as these homes can only be leased to providers who hold an eligible government funding contract to deliver residential care,” Ashby said.
“If we are unable to identify an eligible provider, we will need to consider next steps, including the potential sale of the property. No decisions have been made at this stage, and we are working through the options.”
She said Kainga Ora remained committed to keeping families updated as this process continued.
Melanna House was Waiheke Island’s only respite care house for kids with disabilities. Supplied
Spectrum Care general manager of communications Justin Walsh said after six years running Melanna House, it was a difficult decision to close, but the high costs of operating and the small number of people accessing the support means they’re running at a loss.
He said four families were regularly using the respite house and it operated for four days a week – its only funding were the payments it would get from families booking in their children, via their individualised funding.
“We made sustained efforts to ensure these services could be delivered in a way that was both high-quality and financially sustainable,” Walsh said.
“Despite these efforts, the combination of a very small number of people accessing support and the high costs associated with delivering safe, quality services on the island meant we were unable to achieve a sustainable model.”
Walsh said Spectrum Care worked closely with Disability Support Services, Kainga Ora, Kaikaranga, local partners, and affected people and whānau; reviewing service models and staffing arrangements; and exploring a range of funding and delivery options.
“Following an extensive review and careful consideration, Spectrum Care made the difficult decision to cease respite support services on Waiheke Island,” he said.
“This decision was not made lightly. We recognise the impact it has on people and whānau, and endeavoured to manage the transition with care, respect and ongoing engagement with those affected.”
Ministry of Social Development general manager of commissioning and funding Catherine Poutasi said Disability Support Services (DSS) contracted Spectrum Care to deliver respite services on Waiheke Island for disabled people.
She said DSS were advised in July last year that Spectrum would close Melanna House at the end of September.
“We understand that Spectrum Care offered service options in Auckland for those impacted by the closure on Waiheke,” she said.
Carers NZ chief executive Laurie Hilsgen said more needs to be done to keep the service going for the island community.
“I think that’s a tragic, unacceptable loss. Not that a service might close because that is a reality, sometimes services do come and go but you have to replace it with something or there has to be another plan.”
She said families caring for disabled children need to have respite care options.
“Those parents, those families, they’re not robots. At the end of the day we all go home from our jobs and we rest. For these people that will be placing extra pressure because they are unable to get a wellbeing break.”
A local trust that provides residential rehabilitation, Waiheke Island Supported Homes Trust, is looking at whether it could run the service.
General manager Andrew Walters said they would need to be assured the right funding is available.
Tomlinson said Melanna House is crucial for Waiheke – and everything should be done to keep it going, including lowering the rent on the state house.
“To keep those services going on the island I think is super important because we will always be an island and cut off from mainland services and we will always have disabled and special needs people in amongst our community here on Waiheke.”
She said they would also like to hear from any philanthropists interested in helping to keep the service going on the island.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
