Not your usual retirement village
Cambridge Resthaven is a Community Trust, and that’s something quite different from most retirement villages. Established by the community over 45 years ago, the Trust has developed and grown with the community, always retaining our Community Trust status and community ethos.
While most retirement villages are owned by listed companies, Cambridge Resthaven is not. We are are a not-for-profit organisation that is 100% Cambridge owned and every dollar goes back into providing services for Cambridge seniors.
Our History
Cambridge Resthaven is a familiar part of the town's landscape and history, with the iconic water tower sitting right alongside us. The Cambridge Resthaven Trust Board was set up in 1966 by community groups - Lions, Rotary, Federated Farmers, RSA, Country Women's Institute and Cambridge Borough Council.
These groups committed to raise funds for a resthome in Cambridge.
After an outstanding fundraising effort from the Cambridge community, Friends of Resthaven and with considerable individual donations, the first stage of the resthome was built and opened in November 1972. Truly a community project!
Further fundraising from all these groups and the community resulted in the hospital wing built in 1979, with further developments in 2009 and 2012 from individual donations.
In April 2020, the Cambridge Resthaven family has expanded to add a second resthome - "Resthaven on Burns" resthome is located in Burns Street in Leamington, Cambridge.
Our Team
We currently have over 100 staff who provide care and services to all the ladies and gentlemen who have chosen Resthaven as their home.
At Reception...
Our friendly receptionist Emma mans the front desk during office hours, 9.00am - 4.30pm.
In the background we have a well-oiled team of Lillian looking after HR & payroll, Fiona in Accounts, and Celia is our Executive Support; and support for the clinical team to ensure a high quality and friendly service for our residents, their families and all visitors.
The team at Resthaven includes...
- Management: Chief Executive Officer David, General Manager Rachel, Project & Sales Manager Sandy and Village Manager Joanne.
- Receptionist and Admin Team including HR & Payroll and Accounts.
- Clinical and care staff: Clinical Nurse Leader, Registered Nurses, Enrolled Nurses, Health Care Assistants (HCAs), Housekeepers and a Staff Educator.
- Maintenance: Maintenance personnel and Driver.
- Therapy: 3 Diversional Therapists and 2 Activities Assistants.
- Support Services: Laundry team, cleaning and apartment support.
- Meals are all made fresh in-house by the Cater Plus team.
Our Management Team
In our management team we have the Chief Executive Officer David Hall, General Manager Rachel Jones, Project & Sales Manager Sandy Bennett and Village Manager Joanne Sutherland.
Our Board
Cambridge Resthaven is a Community Charitable Trust. The Trust Board is made up of community leaders who bring a range of commercial and governance experience, a thorough understanding of the local aged care sector, and a forward-thinking outlook to meet the changing needs of the community.
Chief Executive Officer
General Manager
Sandy Bennett
Project & Sales Manager
Key Worker
At the cornerstone of our care is a personalised approach aimed at providing the best support and care for our residents.
Each resident has their own "Key Worker" – a staff member who is the cornerstone of the service provided to that resident. The key worker gets to know the resident and their family well, and is responsible for coordinating care and services in a manner that is most beneficial for the resident.
Forming these relationships builds a great sense of community among our residents and their families, our staff and the doctors.
Staff Education
Having our own Staff Educator (Registered Nurse) enables Resthaven to provide continuous development for our team. All staff attend a variety of compulsory education sessions through the year ranging from residents' rights and basic care through to infection control and manual handling. All Health Care Assistants have completed, or are completing, appropriate qualifications from CareerForce (or equivalent).
All our Registered Nurses and Health Care Assistants who work in our Dementia Unit have completed, or are completing, appropriate dementia modules. Our Registered Nurses engage in a variety of education sessions internally, in the community and at Waikato DHB to ensure best practice, and our Therapy team attend external support groups and conferences.
Some of our friendly staff:
New to Cambridge?
Click on the below link for a video of this wonderful place in the heart of the Waikato. Credit Michael Jeans.
Resthaven Foundation
The needs of the older person are changing as people live longer and social norms place a greater focus on moving away from facility care to active, independent living. Families are more dispersed and therefore have less capacity to provide support to older members of their family, and the gap between available funding and peoples needs is ever growing.
The Resthaven Foundation's focus is to fundraise for services, care options and aged-care education for the Cambridge and Waipa/Matamata/Piako communities.The emphasis is on making services and facilities, linked to the Foundation, accessible and affordable, wherever a person chooses to live - in a retirement village, resthome or in their own home.