Celebrity hoteliers John and Francis Brennan to help dementia community in TV special

Celebrity hoteliers John and Francis Brennan come to the rescue of Ireland’s first purpose-built dementia community.

Called CareBright Community and costing almost €5.5m, it is set on a four-acre site in the heart of Bruff, County Limerick.

The scale of the project that began in the summer of 2016 is beyond previous Brennan Christmas Specials, requiring considerable donations to finish the project.

CareBright, a not-for-profit organisation, based the project on a successful Dutch dementia village providing independent living with a strong sense of community.

Ireland currently has 55,000 people officially diagnosed with dementia and CareBright believe the project will play a leading role in changing dementia care.

The community has three bungalows, each containing six private living spaces and gardens, a communal sitting room, kitchen, and nook area. There is also a large kitchen garden, sensory and remembrance gardens, outdoor seating areas, walkways, and animal sanctuary.

It also features a community hub building with a 40-seat restaurant, hairdressing salon, consultation rooms, offices, a small gym, and spa. These facilities will be available to both residents and the local community.

While construction is nearly complete, CareBright has asked the Brennan brothers to fit out the buildings and garden areas; find furniture for each house; tables and chairs for the restaurant; and to organise extensive landscaping for the outside areas.

As they seek out vintage and retro pieces with nostalgic value, Francis and John will meet people living with dementia and their families and carers, shining the light on challenges people face on a daily basis.

The project is partly funded by the Department of Health, which provided €1.5m through the HSE, and with €1.2m from the JP McManus Benevolent Fund and Pro-Am. Almost €1m came from fundraising activities.

CareBright general manager, Colette Ryan, said the organisation also provided money from its reserves to fund the project.

Ms Ryan said the social enterprise established in 1998 has drawn from 20 years of experience in supporting people living with dementia in the community.

With their 270 staff, they provide home care to more than 700 clients throughout Munster. About 60% of the people they are for are living with dementia.

“A lot of clients who live with dementia are physically well, and they are often on minimal medication and live very productive healthy lifestyles,” she said.

Once CareBright Community is registered with the Health Information and Quality authority people will be able to move in.

“Everything is going to plan. We have got great support from the local community. It has taken us a while to get everything ready, but we are nearly there,” said Ms Ryan.

“We got on great with the Brennan brothers. They approached us in the summer of last year, so really they have been with us from the start.

“We certainly would not have been able to come this far without them. We’re hoping to be open in the spring, all going well, and we plan to have people moving in over the next couple of months.”

At Your Service to The

Rescue broadcasts on RTÉ 1 next Thursday at 9.30pm.