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The dementia village changing the face of aged care in Port Macquarie

In a region with the second-highest rate of dementia in NSW, an aged care experiment is quietly rewriting the rulebook. Open just 12 months, Emmaus Village in Port Macquarie already has a wait list of 80 – proof that small-house dementia care is resonating far beyond the Netherlands, where the model was born.

Operated by St Agnes’ Catholic Parish, the $77 million development swaps clinical corridors for a neighbourhood of 12 homes, each with eight residents, set around a bustling community hub with a café, corner store, salon, cinema and gardens. The idea is simple but radical: create a safe, familiar environment where residents live with freedom, purpose and dignity – and staff work with them, not for them.

A deliberate pace to protect the model

Executive Manager of Community and Residential Aged Care Tracy Baker

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