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Looking after trees and old people is kind of the same thing, isn’t it?

After working for the Department of Forestry for many years, John Hughes took up the post of CEO for HADCA in March 2001.  “I always remember the first speech I gave to the residents after my arrival saying “I will be turning my attention from the optimum conditions for growing good trees to the best possible care and service for our senior citizens.  This didn’t go down too well,” he laughs.

His first task was building Midmar Gardens – a big step for HADCA but John knew that it was essential to spend money in order to make money and, beneath a peach tree growing in Amber Avenue, the apprehensive Board were convinced.    In just over two years Midmar Gardens was completed and contributed to strengthening the organisation by increasing the future cash flow substantially.  John almost died in the process.  He recalls “We had just finished laying part of the concrete road at the entrance, I was running down a concrete slope in my smooth soled Grasshopper shoes to meet someone and slipped.  I knocked myself out on the concrete road. A tipper truck was reversing into the complex along the road, and, had the gate guard not spotted the incident and rushed to stop the truck, it would have reversed right over my head!” John was delivered to the matron at Greendale House to recover before he went to see the doctor.

Around the same time, John developed the Howick West Community Centre.  “From a small outbuilding in the vegetable vendor’s, Mr Ahmed’s Garden, we regularly provided meals for elderly people, but with funding from LOTTO, we were able to build a dedicated centre which feeds over 30 people three times a week and provides a space for stimulation and community building.”

The next challenge was to create a dedicated care centre for those living with Alzheimer’s Disease.  The intention was to buy a large house on Hayfields Road, only for the care centre, but the Board had the foresight to buy the whole property as well.  This was then developed into the much sought after Hayfields Gardens.  There were a few yellowwood trees that needed to be felled to build the cottages. “We had to get permission to do this because yellowwoods are protected trees. We planted several Podocarpus henkelii around the dam, to replace those we had to fell.”

As John begins his retirement in April 2024, the merger with PADCA occurs.  Through the network of the Voluntary Life Rights Association, John has had many discussions with Trevor Clowes the CEO of PADCA about the future – particularly during the stressful COVID challenges.  They realised that one organisation would be better than two competing ones.  “I believe our new organisation will go from strength to strength. I am particularly excited about the concept of Person Directed Support, in which all our staff have now been trained. This has changed the whole atmosphere at Greendale House and is a tangible benefit of the merger.”

Despite many challenges over the past 23 years, John has always had the support of the HADCA board as well as the dedicated and very hard working HADCA staff and that of the Contractors. He has also met so many interesting people and residents in his line of work.

It is perfectly apt that the new name and logo of the organisation is the tree of life – Mowana.   Just like John, embedded in the African continent, caring, nurturing, resilient and strong.

When John retires, he intends to spend more time walking along the river and in the local plantations with his wife, Kathy, and their dogs, visiting their children and grandchildren more often, reignite his love of woodworking and enjoy interesting conversations with his network.  Now that John is an older person too, he realises that senior folk grow and mature more like fine wine than like trees.