WVO is a care organisation in the cities of Vlissingen (Flushing), Middelburg and Veere, The Netherlands. WVO has 8 nursing homes, 1 hospice, 4 day-care projects and home care. More than 1200 professionals and 700 volunteers provide care and services to 3500 care clients 24 hours an day, 7 days a week.
WVO are specialized in the care of older people with dementia and believes that people with dementia can live actively in the community, though necessarily with some restrictions. An important element is to bring care and culture together and to use art as a way of communicating with dementia sufferers.
WVO has a vision. Clients and families let in the meetings clearly know that they themselves wish to organize their lives, as long as possible want to be independent and want to continue to do things themselves. They want to be herein supported and facilitated by an involved and knowledgeable staff and volunteers who have time and space to get to know them and from there be able to connect to the opportunities that everyone has.
The facility is set up like a small care city. The welfare of the (nursing home) residents is considered of great importance. Therefore, much attention is paid to exercise, art and culture. We have eg. two art-workshops, a fitness center and an extensive cultural program. The vision is that people who live enjoyable and can make use of an attractive wellness offerings require less care.
Within the facility they have space dedicated to working with artists, an academic room, restaurants, music rooms etc. The specialist art studios are used by both residents and people with dementia living at home.
Small scale is found in all parts of the organization. In our nursing homes, we work according to the concept of small-scale housing. A nursing home has 6-8 residents. The vision here is to be ‘just like home’. Everything is just like home; errands, making meals and domestic work (including washing) is done by the employees. Where possible, clients are involved in these daily activities.