Rusthof Old Age Home

The Isipani Foundation has been working with Rusthof Old Age Home since 2014, when the Foundation was established.

The home is a non-profit care facility located in the heart of Paarl, serving over 100 elderly residents and individuals with disabilities. It plays a vital role in supporting vulnerable members of the community, especially in an area facing economic challenges. Rusthof is known for its compassionate care, emphasizing dignity, safety, and community for its residents

Services Offered:

Rusthof provides both retirement living and assisted care services.
It is designed to offer a safe, comfortable, and dignified environment for elderly residents.
The facility is known for its compassionate and dedicated staff, who focus on ensuring residents feel cared for and respected

As part of the Foundation’s 10-year celebration we felt compelled to revisit one of our longest-standing beneficiaries, and to assist them by revamping the entire home. We focused on increasing physical and structural safety, building a perimeter wall with electric fencing, renovating toilets and bathrooms for residents and staff, revamping walkways, and painting the premises. This was a large-scale project which started in 2024, and it was completed in May 2025.

“It has been our privilege to work with the team at Rusthof Old Age Home for the past ten years. Caring for the aged and vulnerable members of our community is of vital importance, and we need to show the organizations that are addressing this immense need, that they are not alone in shouldering this responsibility,” says Isipani Foundation Chairperson, Ray-Ann Sedres. “We are humbled by the work that the caregivers do, and are proud to play our part by ensuring that they, and the Rusthof residents, can enjoy a safe and welcoming environment to call home.”

Project Details:

Beneficiary: Rusthof Old Age Home
Project Value: R1.4m
Date of Completion: May 2025

Summary: Revamping of the entire old age home, with a focus on safety, internal renovations, and upgrading of various areas in the home.

“Rusthof Ouetehuis het daartoe bygedra dat ons soos ’n elite-instansie voel en beskou word. Ons aangesig het so drasties verbeter dat mense ons Ouetehuis kom soek. Die moraal van die inwoners en personeel het so verbeter, en die dankbaarheid en waardering is daagliks te bespeur by hulle. Ons inwoners kan nou vrylik buite beweeg en saam die natuur geniet. Hulle is so trots op die tuine en hulle braaiplek. Ons bid God se seën op julle maatskappy toe, en dat God julle grondgebied moet verbreed.”

Alvira Kleinhans

Centre Head, Rusthof Old Age Home

The Challenge

Like Rusthof, many of South Africa’s non-profit-run old age homes were built in the 1970s. While the care provided within their walls is heartfelt and dedicated, limited maintenance budgets, and the passage of time have resulted in the physical environment struggling to keep pace with the needs of the elderly, and disabled residents.

Care-giving is a physically and emotionally demanding career, and it’s made even more challenging when you’re working in environments with cracked tiles, broken plumbing, poor ventilation, and outdated electrical systems. Narrow doorways and uneven flooring pose daily mobility hazards for the elderly, particularly those who use walkers or wheelchairs. Bathrooms are also often not safely adapted for frail individuals, while communal areas can feel institutional, cold, and isolating. These conditions not only make it harder to provide dignified, efficient care but also affect the emotional well being of the residents.

Behind every challenge there lies immense opportunity for the surrounding communities and businesses to come together and support the organizations who play such an important and necessary role in our community.

At Isipani Construction, and at the Isipani Foundation, Teamwork is one of our core values, and this project let us work together with the Rusthof administrators as a team, to identify key areas where the Foundation could renovate their living spaces with care and intention, ensuring safer accessibility for all, restoring dignity and making life a little easier for the carers and residents.

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The Solution

When we assessed Rusthof’s needs in 2024, we could see that a coat of paint alone, wasn’t going to be enough. We needed to make sure the buildings were structurally sound, electrics and fire systems were up to code, and we wanted carers and residents to feel physically and emotionally safer too, so we built a perimeter wall with electric fencing. Existing walkways had eroded and become overgrown with plants, so we cleared the areas and laid improved walkways that were gently graded for a gentler walk and that would comfortably handle wheelchairs, and walkers. A central courtyard was paved, and shade provided, and a new braai area was created to make a more social area for residents to gather. We also renovated toilets and bathrooms for residents and staff.