£20m breakthrough in care of the elderly

Mar 5 2007 By Anna Jeys, Birmingham Mail

A NEW facility costing £20 million is being opened in Solihull this week to help care for sufferers of dementia.

The Sunrise Senior Living complex in Dog Kennel Lane will house 87 residents.

It is the second Sunrise complex to open in the West Midlands, after Edgbaston, Birmingham.

It will provide constant care for residents with Alzheimer's disease in a specialist unit called the Reminiscence Area.

Care assistants will work with residents to improve their memory.

There will also be rooms for residents without the disease as well as a hair-dressing salon, sensory garden and activity rooms.

The new centre will provide 70 jobs for local people and is set to open its doors on Thursday, March 8.

The Mayor of Solihull, Coun John Reeve, will open the facility at a ceremony.

The opening coincides with a report published by The Alzheimer Society last Tuesday which estimated that more than 1.7 million in the UK will have dementia by 2051.

In the West Midlands, the number of sufferers is predicted to increase from 58,000 to 142,000.

Sunrise of Solihull's executive director, Andrew Worsley, said: "Our whole approach is resident-centred, resulting in tailored living, service and care options. We enable seniors to live life on their own terms.

"The home's way of life and provision of care is structured to celebrate and encourage individuality in our residents, and enable them to maintain independence for as long as possible.

"It's exciting to be so close to opening our home in Solihull and we're looking forward to becoming an important part of the local community."