here for
each other
ABOUT US
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Here’s what makes Knox
Elizabeth Knox Home and Hospital is a Charitable Trust with over 110 years of caring for the Auckland community just the way founder Elizabeth Knox envisioned when she left her bequest in 1908.
Today, Knox is home to about 280 subsidised and fee-paying private residents.
We offer rest home, hospital, young disabled, day and respite cares, carer support, post-operative stays and palliative care.
There are distinct differences that set us apart from others though. A decision we made back in 2009 to adopt the Eden Alternative means that we have a different DNA to other care homes.
The core concept of the Eden Alternative is simple: Care environments are habitats for people that should promote health, wellbeing and growth rather than facilities where the frail and elderly stagnate and decline.
We know life for our residents can be much, much more than may be considered possible elsewhere. There are many small differences at Knox that make a big difference to the lives of residents. Primarily, we’ve challenged the structure of traditional care homes and hospitals. Residents are central
to everything we do.
Our care model is a working partnership with residents and families, where we support and enable residents to continue discovering their potential.
The genesis of the
Eden Alternative
One day in the mid-1990s, Dr. Bill Thomas, while making his nursing home rounds, came upon a woman with a rash on her arm. In his best doctor’s voice, he leaned down and asked her, “Hello, I'm Dr. Thomas, what can I do for you today?”
He would never forget the beautiful blue eyes that stared up at him as she reached up to draw him closer. And he would never forget the words she whispered, “Doctor, I am so lonely.”
Knox is a member of the Australasian Eden Registry Eden in Oz & NZ.
"I haven't had one unhappy moment."
Not one.
Joy spent most of her life in a quiet and remote part of the Gisborne district. East coast landscapes were always an inspiration for her creativity but she didn’t always have the time or encouragement to paint. Now she loves the opportunity to make the most of her creative talents with other residents, staff and volunteers.
The transition to life in Auckland has been much easier than she thought it could be – Knox is just so homely. She has both the inspiration and freedom to do so much that she is never bored. Joy may be helping migrants learn English one day, a day out, the next.
Knox Values
As a fully-registered Eden Alternative Home we are committed to the ten principles of the Eden Alternative and we value:
• inclusion of people of all ages and abilities
• kindness to one another
• tolerance of differences
• fairness
• personal responsibility and engagement in the life of the Knox Community
• variety and spontaneity
• the principles of partnership with Maori.
And we celebrate and honour the diversity of the many cultures that make up the Knox community
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We ensure that
• we work as a team
• we embrace change with optimism
• we promote well-being
• we reciprocate care
• we are hardworking and productive
• we are reliable
• we are curious and innovative
• we laugh and have fun.