This is the first sneak preview inside the new £7 million centre of excellence for dementia care in Caernarfon.
Bryn Seiont Newydd has been built on the site of the former community hospital, Ysbyty Bryn Seiont, on the outskirts of the town.
The first residents are expected to arrive soon and 60 new recruits have been trained to look after them.
The centre is the brainchild of Mario and Gill Kreft, the owners of the award-winning Pendine Park care organisation.
Pendine Park employs 650 people in the Wrexham area where they have seven care homes, a domiciliary care company and an in-house training organisation, the Pendine Park Academy of Social Care.
When fully operational Bryn Seiont Newydd will have room for 71 residents and create 100 new jobs.
Around 84 per cent of the staff taken on so far are Welsh speakers and all of them live locally while the Ruthin based building contractors, Carrolls, have used mainly local labour.
There are also plans for 16 companion living apartments for couples.
Mr Kreft, who is also the chair of Care Forum Wales which represents the independent social care sector, said: “We are very proud of the centre of excellence for dementia care we have created and we have been deeply touched by the warmth of the welcome we have received from the local community and the genuine enthusiasm for what we are aiming to achieve.
“We deliberately chose a North Wales construction company, Carroll’s, who have used mainly local workforce to build Bryn Seiont Newydd.
“Our aim here is to provide a world class, bilingual home that will become the focus for community-based care in the area. It will be the hub other services including respite care, day care, memory clinics and outreach services supporting people in their own homes.
“We are also planning to build 16 companion living apartments as part of a second phase at Bryn Seiont Newydd to enable couples to stay together and people to stay independent.
“The golden thread running through everything we do is our award-winning enrichment programme which put the arts right at the centre of how we improve the quality of life for our residents and also the staff looking after them
“We have already appointed a musician and an artist in residence because we want our residents to have opportunities to engage in the arts and music as we know from experience the massive benefits this can bring to their lives.”
Pendine Park have appointed Sandra Evans, and experienced care home manager, who lives in Llanddaniel, on Anglesey, to run Bryn Seiont Newydd.
She said: “We are excited and thrilled with Bryn Seiont and the staff we have recruited – importantly, 84 per cent of them are Welsh speakers. We chose our new employees very carefully because we only want people who can deliver the right care in the right way.
“Pendine Park already have an Investors in People gold award in Wrexham and this is something we would like to extend to Caernarfon, using our own training company, the Pendine Academy of Social Care.
“The value of high quality and relevant training is at the heart of our philosophy which is why we have developed our own bespoke training programme in which the arts are embedded for all our members of staff, including the admin, maintenance and cleaning teams.
“We are determined to create something really special here at Bryn Seiont Newydd and the site itself, that’s fringed with mature trees, is the perfect setting.”
