CASCADE launches Harmony House

With today’s launch of the Harmony House in Rochester, Kent (UK), an important milestone was reached by CASCADE. This social innovation project develops a financially sustainable approach to elderly/dementia care. The project is based on an existing Dutch model, that can be replicated across the 2 Seas area and potentially further across Europe.

As explained on the website of the Health and Europe Centre (CASCADE’s lead partner), “CASCADE will bring together an anecdotally highly successful but unevaluated small-scale care model for elderly patients (Guesthouses) with dementia experts from across the 2 Seas region to build evaluated facilities. Via co-creation they will ensure that patients do not become isolated from their local community.”

The new guesthouse in Kent, Harmony House, promises to provide guests with personally tailored support that meets their individual needs, whatever they might be. It will maintain strong links with the local community. The facility will be run by highly-trained staff who are committed to making even the shortest of stays a positive experience.

A similar facility, the Harmonia Village, will be open by the end of the year in Dover. Both facilities have already received quite a lot of media attention. You can find here a BBC documentary on the Harmonia Village. Here, you can read an article on the Harmony House. These will help you to understand how these investments will change the lives of many families.