New Zealand’s largest village and aged care operator is continuing to kick goals, this time taking home two awards at the Eldercare Innovation Awards in Singapore for its Nellie Melba Retirement Village and its myRyman Life dementia model.

Nellie Melba (pictured above and right) is Ryman’s second village to open in Victoria at Wheelers Hill in Melbourne and is now home to over 400 residents and 200 staff across 300-plus independent living and serviced apartments and a 190-bed aged care home.

It was named Project of the Year in the Residential Aged Care in the Asia Pacific region, while the myRyman Life model of dementia care was awarded Innovation of the Year in the Dementia Care Solution category.  

Ryman currently has more than 850 dementia beds in New Zealand and Australia and developed its model of dementia care in conjunction with residents and families.

It is built around four key principles: demystifying dementia; making sense of my world; destressing the environment; and quality of life.

All building and construction done in-house

Ryman Chief Executive, Gordon MacLeod said the awards were great recognition for Ryman’s design, construction and operations teams which are all in-house.

“We are unusual in that we design, build and then operate our villages – doing everything we can with our own team. The team includes architects and builders through to nurses, caregivers and gardeners, so everything we build is built based on our own experience,” he said.