Healthcare study tours

Home4All Founders – Jan and Marian Weststrate

Jan and Marian came to New Zealand in 2007. The couple both had 30 years’ healthcare experience in the Netherlands before arriving here and wanted to expand their professional careers by working in a country with a different culture. Over the years they both noticed the limited number of Kiwi care options – for people suffering from memory loss (dementia).

They subsequently ‘hatched a plan’ to run healthcare study tours to the Netherlands – to show New Zealand healthcare professionals the innovative care models they’d seen working successfully in their homeland. During those tours they visited places like the “Hogeweyk”, “Buitengewoon” and “de Herbergier” all of which are successful, internationally recognised, examples of small scale living options for people with memory loss. After running three really well-reviewed tours, the response from Kiwi professionals was overwhelmingly positive. They thought: “This could happen in New Zealand”.

So, after careful consideration, Jan and Marian decided to take the initiative themselves and they started looking for an opportunity to develop a small-scale daytime programme for people with dementia in Kāpiti. Just before the first New Zealand-wide ‘lock down’ they found the ideal Home4All property in Raumati. After a year of renovations and garden development, the time has now come for them to plant the ‘new shoots’ of their venture and open up a purposeful daytime programme for people with memory loss issues.

Jan holds a PhD in nursing and regularly publishes articles in national and international journals. He has many years of nursing experience in intensive care, guiding patients and families through complex and critical transitions of life. In New Zealand he has been a healthcare consultant focussing on quality improvement aspects in the aged care sector.

Marian has a broad range of nursing experience in New Zealand and the Netherlands. She has first-hand care experience in aged care facilities, in the community and in hospitals. Marian now works as a district nurse on the Kāpiti Coast; she is a passionate advocate for her clients both in and outside the care system.