Who we are

“Rescare is a place where we all learn to appreciate each other – staff, residents and families – and that gives us all more understanding of each other and greater acceptance of people with differences.”

Sue Blackett, Rescare Service Manager

Established in December 1994, Rescare was set up to represent the wishes of parents and the relatives of some of the people with an intellectual disability who were previously living at Mangere Hospital. Their wish was for their loved ones to move from an institution to a ‘community within a community’ so that friendships would be kept and new ones made.  The families wanted the new community to have a strong sense of family, whanaungatanga and belonging.

As a result, in August 1995, Rescare Homes Trust opened on our Weymouth site with eight homes. This was followed, in February 1996, by the opening of four homes for 74 adults with an intellectual disability at the Flat Bush site (formally known as Chapel Road).

Today, with 20 homes, 117 residents and a number of vocational services for both residents and non-residents, and more than 160 staff including a CEO and a capable management team, Rescare Homes Trust is a lifestyle choice for people with an intellectual disability.

Each person is supported with a full and varied life while enjoying the benefits of living in a secure, gated community that has well exceeded the dreams of its founders.

On 1 March 1995, when Rescare received its first Ministry of Health contract, the families whose relatives were to become foundation Rescare residents were filled with excitement and hope about the organisation providing the sort of care and support they had previously only dreamed about.  It has exceeded expectations over the years and continues to seek even better resources, staff, facilities and philosophies to even further enhance the lives of the people for whom Rescare is ‘home’.