Background
The well-established Sydney suburb of Casula has welcomed a brand-new residential aged care home, Holy Spirit. Unveiled to the public in February 2021 in response to the neighbourhood’s growing need for high-quality, community-orientated aged care facilities, this architecturally designed establishment caters for up to 144 residents and offers a range of comfortable, light-filled rooms with ensuites that are arranged to ensure the occupants feel at home.
Challenge
In designing the Holy Spirit facility, creating a non-institutional sense of comfort and familiarity was of utmost importance to the team at Catholic Healthcare - on par with creating an easy to navigate, accessible and safe environment that would prioritise the wellbeing of the residents. This consideration was particularly vital in bathroom design.
David Krakowszky, Catholic Healthcare’s Development Manager, explains: ‘We try to provide non-institutional environments for our residents - environments that are as close to residential as possible. That’s very important to us.’ Equally, the facilities must be designed to provide the residents with all of the necessary supporting features - including appropriate grab rails or colour choices that aid visibility - which allow staff to assist the residents as and when required.
Solution
Caroma’s range of products offered the balance between the desired residential appeal and design that prioritises the wellbeing and safety of the residents.
Aligning the choice of specific products with their rigorous design guidelines, Catholic Healthcare fitted out Holy Spirit Casula’s bathrooms with Opal Cleanflush armrest toilet suites, Opal 720 shelf basins, Elegance lever basin tapware and shower wall top assemblies, and Caroma Plus Starsafe II care showers, creating spaces that not only feel like home but also excel when it comes to safety features and practicality.
David Krakowszky explains some of the essential considerations Catholic Healthcare had to keep in mind: ‘When it came to the toilet, we were faced with two options. One is to provide a very non-institutional toilet suite and couple it with drop-down handrails, which would be fixed to the walls. That seemed too institutional, and we felt it would be better to have the rails mounted onto the toilet itself.’ The specified toilet suites with integrated drop-down armrests were installed at a 45-degree angle to provide easy access for a care staff member and are equipped with Anthracite Grey seats to offer helpful visual cues for the residents.
Contrasting against the darker wall tile, Opal 720 shelf basins were specified for a variety of reasons. They allow more space for residents to keep objects like hand creams or hairbrushes handy up top. Lack of joinery underneath also removes both residents and staff’s need to bend over to access the essential products. ‘The choice of the Caroma Opal 720 basin with bottle trap also provides greater accessibility for shower commodes or shower trolleys to move beneath,’ David adds.
The basins are equipped with Elegance lever basin tapware, which combines familiar shape and contemporary design with hot, cold & warm coloured indicators for better visibility. The tapware also features extended levers to give users with limited hand mobility a comfortable grip on the handle. The range was installed in the showers alongside Caroma’s Plus Starsafe II care product too.
The essential fittings were also extended to the toilets near the lounge room, and the project was completed with a selection of Caroma sinks and toilet suites for the staff amenities, and an assortment of grab rails, further advancing the non-institutional appeal in the context of a modern aged-care facility.
