Amana Life no 54

AMANA LIFE KEEPING YOU INFORMED OF AMANA LIVING NEWS, VIEWS AND EVENTS

NO 54 AUTUMN 2016

Our enrichment program is expanding to better meet the need for more social and community connection. This photo of resident Thelma Donovan was taken at the Project Picasso Exhibition; find out more on page 4.

Older people deserve enriched lives CEO Ray Glickman gives his perspective on feedback from the 2015 Amana Living Customer Satisfaction Survey. You can see the results on pages 2-3.

Every two to three years, we carry out a comprehensive Customer Satisfaction Survey.

The 2015 survey is our seventh, and the results are now in.

Once again, we’re really pleased to see an exceptionally high level of overall satisfaction. At 96.3%, this is a 2% increase on the previous survey, taken in 2012.

Residents in our care centres and clients receiving services at home and attending day respite clubs are all invited to complete the survey. If they’re unable to manage this themselves, their families are asked to help or respond on their behalf. Respondents may rate and comment on a range of areas, which you can see listed overleaf.

Another key result is the percentage of respondents who would recommend Amana Living to others.

A massive 94% said they would. This represents a slight drop of 1% on 2012, but is nevertheless a tremendous testament to the quality of care and service we’re providing. continued over...

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As well as rating satisfaction levels, we also ask respondents what is most important to them. This helps us in planning improvement. So if satisfaction has dropped in an area that’s particularly important to our residents, clients and families, we make sure we pay close attention to improvement in that area.

While housing residents are more likely to feel connected with the wider community, they would like more to do within their village. Residents in care centres tend to express a disconnectedness that needs to be addressed more vigorously, to strengthen connections both within the centres and with the local community.

We, along with all aged care providers, have faced some significant challenges since 2012: the introduction of consumer directed care in home care, increasing demands from housing residents, and rising dependency of care residents. In this context, the satisfaction levels achieved are very good indeed.

Now that the enrichment program is picking up momentum again, we expect to see more satisfaction in these areas in our next survey. We have re-energised our flagship projects, such as Project Picasso and iPad Connect, and launched a new Music Program that shows great promise for people experiencing cognitive decline.

Here at Amana Living, we have also spent some time reviewing and relaunching our award-winning enrichment program. Enrichment means helping people live a fulfilled and meaningful second half of life. This is our mantra, and something we believe our older people deserve. It’s also reflected in the survey results.

Enrichment is also becoming more infused throughout Amana Living so that our staff look for opportunities to make lives more meaningful and fun for the older people we serve.

Our home care clients are more vulnerable to feeling isolated than our village and care centre residents. They want to be more involved with the local community and social activities, and this is becoming an important focus for us.

Ray Glickman, CEO

Customer Satisfaction Survey results We want to know what our residents, clients and their families want from us, and how they rate the care and services we provide. The Customer Satisfaction Survey is one way of gathering this information. Libby Simpson (General Manager Projects and Operational Support) summarises the key results and explains how they help us to improve Our Customer Satisfaction Survey is so much more than an information-gathering exercise.

With the help of Professor Duncan Boldy from the Centre for Research on Ageing at Curtin University, we design the survey to give us the most accurate and useful data while keeping it easy to use. We then analyse the results to help us create an action plan for improving care and services.

The dissatisfaction ratings in particular areas give us an opportunity to make changes that will increase satisfaction. The action plan also takes into account importance ratings. This tells us which areas matter most to our residents and clients, which helps us to prioritise improvements.

The charts opposite show only the ‘VERY satisfied’ rating for each area.

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Home care Overall satisfaction rating: 97.2% High satisfaction: Areas that our home care and day respite clients rated the highest were ‘Care by staff’, ‘Client rights’, ‘Support services’ and ‘Day club activities’.

High importance: Attention to ‘Individual needs and preferences’ is most important to them and is a part of the Amana Living philosophy. There has been an increase in satisfaction in this area since the previous survey taken in 2012, and we hope to see this trend continue.

Room for improvement: There is room to improve ‘Social support and community involvement’, and we are already working on this, as outlined in our CEO’s message. In the area of ‘Care coordination’, we have identified the need for a notice period for changes in care, and easier access to information on fees and scheduling.

Housing Overall satisfaction rating: 96.18% High satisfaction: Respondents were particularly happy with ‘The village’, ‘Resident services’ and ‘Links with the community’.

High importance: The areas of high satisfaction corresponded well with the areas of most importance to our residents, which were ‘The village’, ‘Resident services’ and ‘Staff’. All three areas were rated highly.

Room for improvement: Once again, ‘Social life and involvement’ has been earmarked as a high priority.

Dissatisfaction with ‘Involvement and feedback’ has led us to look at increasing the opportunities for residents to tell us what they think.

We have also noted that a significant number of residents have asked us to focus more attention on gardening and landscaping in the communal areas of the villages.

Residential care Overall satisfaction rating: 95.72% High satisfaction: Respondents were most pleased with ‘Care by staff’, ‘Chaplaincy’ and the ‘Residential centre’ itself, specifically the overall design and amenities.

High importance: Again, the highscoring areas corresponded well with those that are most important to our residents and families: ‘Care by staff’, ‘Individual needs and preferences’ and the ‘Residential centre’. Especially important to the residents is that they are treated with respect and that staff ensure they have adequate privacy.

Room for improvement: The areas they were least satisfied with were ‘Links with the community’, ‘Social life and involvement’ and ‘Resident services’. We will therefore be looking at ways to help residents feel more connected to the broader community, as well as expanding enrichment activities, particularly in the evenings.

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Art connects Art is known to be an effective way for family and carers to engage with people who live with dementia. Every year, Amana Living runs the Project Picasso art program, culminating in a public exhibition.

More than 180 Amana Living residents and day respite clients contributed around 200 artworks to the 2015 Project Picasso Exhibition late last year. The two-day event was the culmination of a seven-week project, coordinated

by Volunteer and Enrichment Manager Emily Scarff, with the help of staff and volunteers.

Emily said: “Project Picasso is an opportunity for people living with dementia to express themselves when words elude them. We provide as much freedom as possible to create a variety of artworks, by supplying art equipment and lots of encouragement from staff and volunteers.”

We received fantastic feedback on the new exhibition venue – the light and airy Cortille Wright Bennet Centre at

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St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls – where visitors were invited to vote on their favourite display. The winner was Lady McCusker Care Centre with a collection of sea-themed works, and runner-up was Club Lefroy with a 3D display inspired by the Chelsea Flower Show.

Project Picasso 2016 is scheduled to launch in July with the exhibition in late September.

“We will use the same venue this year and expand the project to involve the wider community – an important enrichment focus for our people living with dementia,” said Emily Scarff.

The plan is to form partnerships with volunteer or student art therapists to support residents and clients in creating their works. Schools and community groups will be invited to attend the public exhibition, and a silent auction will be a new feature at the event to help raise more funds for Project Picasso 2017.

Amana Living CEO Ray Glickman talks with Hon Ken Wyatt, Federal Assistant Minister for Health.

Hon Kerry Sanderson chats to Judith Brown, the wife of a Transition Care Bull Creek client. Judith spoke to guests about the value of transition care and the excellent service provided

by Amana Living staff.

Governor opens transition care centre Her Excellency the Honourable Kerry Sanderson AO, Governor of WA and Amana Living Patron, officially opened Transition Care Bull Creek in February. Tim Nayton (General Manager Health Care) recaps the event.

The new Amana Living centre is dedicated to people living with dementia and older adults with mental health challenges, who need restorative care following a stay in hospital.

The Governor toured the centre before speaking to guests at the official opening about the value of transition care in restoring older people’s independence as far as possible, enabling their recovery, and reducing the probability of returning to hospital.

This is a significant step for Amana Living, and for aged care too, because transition care operates in the gap between acute health care and community / residential care in a positive way.

We were delighted to have our Patron open the centre, and also to welcome the Federal Assistant Minister for Health, Ken Wyatt, and WA Minister for Seniors and Volunteering, Tony Simpson. This was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the contribution aged care expertise can make in keeping older people as independent and healthy as possible and taking the pressure off the health system.

The purpose-built centre provides the facilities, equipment and skilled staff to help clients gain further independence after their stay in hospital and achieve their goals for returning home or moving into residential care. It replaces the temporary facility opened at our Cottesloe site in 2014.

At the opening, Amana Living Chairman Steve Scudamore commented that the opening of this new centre is particularly exciting for us because restorative and dementia care are integral to the Amana Living strategic direction.

The Transition Care Program is funded by the Commonwealth Government. At state level, the program is managed by the WA Department of Health.

The DoH awarded Amana Living 65 transition care places in March 2014.

Transition Care Bull Creek is the latest phase in the development of the Amana Living integrated dementia service centre in the southern region of Perth. The site is a hub for much-needed dementia-specific care and services, including residential and respite care, and the award-winning McCusker Nurse Service.

With the opening of Transition Care Bull Creek, we have taken the opportunity to put up new signage reflecting some name changes. Lefroy Hostel has been renamed Lefroy Care Centre, and Lefroy Day Club is now Club Lefroy.

Eventually all Amana Living hostels and homes will be renamed as care centres. This decision has been taken as we begin to refresh our branding and apply more consistency in line with terminology commonly used today.

The day clubs have been renamed to remove the association with ‘day care’, in response to customer feedback.

There are no other changes resulting from the renaming. In particular, there has been no change to the nature or quality of care offered at Lefroy.

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Praise indeed!

While we are now focusing on ways to improve our care and services, it’s a pleasure for us to share some of the wonderful comments we received from Customer Satisfaction Survey participants. As the survey is confidential, we have no idea who wrote these comments.

If you recognise yours, thank you. We’re extremely grateful for the positive feedback.

“I am very happy [here] and appreciate being able to feel free to live life as I wish.”

“My late husband and I bought [our unit] in 1975 and, now I’m on my own, being here among family and the care we receive from Amana Living is great. So a big thank you for your care and support.”

“The people who care for mum … are friendly, approachable and always positive. They’re angels on earth, so appreciated by me.”

“The staff are extremely helpful and friendly. They seem genuinely interested in the welfare/being of the residents.”

Clubbing together

“Very caring and attentive staff and a fun atmosphere.” “[Name removed] has been [with Amana Living] for 5 years in day club respite and now full care. He seems to be very comfortable here and had no problems when it came time for him to be a permanent resident. The [staff] are fantastic with him and that helps me knowing that someone is kind and caring.”

“I can leave [my] loved one in your care – with peace of mind – knowing she is well cared for.”

“Supportive staff, great facilities, cosy and homely, very good food and meals.”

“It is so homely and staff are all helpful and great. I am so pleased that my brother is in such a great home, thank you all.”

“The staff are always prepared to help if you need a hand with anything. Mum seems safe and surrounded by people who care about the people they are looking after.”

Catering division goes solar Amana Living has embraced solar energy as part of its commitment to be an Environmentally Conscious Organisation.

As a caring organisation, Amana Living is committed to reducing its carbon footprint. Among current projects is the launch of our solar energy program.

Preparatory work has begun at the site of Amana Living catering division Total Catering Solutions (TCS). This site is an ideal candidate for making impressive energy savings due to the high consumption during periods when solar power is most effective.

The Amana Living ECO Team will monitor costs and benefits, and report back on power saving as the results come in.

Nearly 50 staff and clients from Amana Living’s three respite clubs braved a hot and steamy Australia Day to celebrate together. Entertainment was provided by Perth band the Hog Hill Boys.

Pictured here is Club Assistant Helen Harrison keeping cool with club client Percy Dewar.

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Other ECO-T projects underway are a new cleaning system that promises to reduce water consumption by 250,000 litres per year, and an investigation into waste management.

Above: Moline Village resident Dorothy Westlake stays fit by practising yoga. She is pictured here next to the village pool and spa. Right: Apartment interior.

The rise of apartment living Moline Village in Karrinyup welcomed a broad spectrum of visitors at a recent open day, with lots of attention paid to the lease-for-life apartments. Maria Davison (General Manager Housing) describes the benefits of this style of housing for over-55s.

After one of our residents, Dorothy Westlake, was featured in The West Australian talking about the perks of apartment living, almost 100 visitors attended an open day at Moline Village in February.

This unprecedented rush was expertly managed by staff with the assistance of our wonderful residents, who enjoyed showing visitors around their village.

Dorothy has lived in her apartment at Moline Village for more than four years. She told The West that security, privacy and location were the three drivers for her decision to move there. As an active single person, Dorothy appreciates being able to lock up and leave with peace of mind, and the opportunity to enjoy the village leisure facilities and social activities.

We find that these incentives are common across many residents. However, the huge interest demonstrated at the

open day by a wide range of visitors suggests that other factors may also be at play here.

In particular, it seems that more people are planning for the second half of life, rather than waiting until they reach crisis point and are forced to downsize or move into a supported living situation. And now is the time to consider investing in this way: the property market is slow, keeping prices down, which could be attracting people to look at buying now.

Amana Living housing is very competitively priced, particularly the apartments in Karrinyup. Where else can you buy a one- or two-bed apartment in a highly soughtafter coastal suburb for under $250,000?

If you’d like to find out more about our lease-for-life apartments and villas, go to www.amanaliving.com.au/ housing or call Seniors Own Real Estate on 9243 1366.

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New appointments Some key appointments have been made recently, reflecting our ongoing commitment to enrichment, customer service, quality dementia services and chaplaincy. Jenny Williams (General Manager Human Resources) welcomes them to Amana Living, along with other newly appointed staff.

Adding music to our enrichment program Our enrichment team recently welcomed Music Therapist Goya Zheng, who will be driving our new program for people living with dementia. The program will use music to stimulate memories and encourage connection with others.

Goya is a registered music therapist with experience in aged care, early intervention paediatrics, disability and young adult mental health.

As a trained musician, she says music therapy suits her personality much better than performing in front of an audience! We’re delighted to have her on board.

Goya Zheng, our new music therapist.

Coordinators join customer service

Care centre managers welcomed

Angela Terrell’s job is to manage the residential care respite bookings. This is a vital service that supports people caring for loved ones at home by giving them an occasional break to recharge their batteries.

Nicolette Mostert is the new care coordinator for Transition Care Bull Creek, which was officially opened in February (see page 5). The centre offers restorative care for people living with dementia and other mental health diagnoses who are recovering from a stay in hospital.

Also joining the team is Pamela Barrett, who will focus on residential care. It’s often a challenging time for families when their loved one needs permanent care, and Pamela is there to explain and ease the transition.

Angela and Pamela will be vital assets to the Customer Service Centre team, which walks people through their options, and helps them to access the care and services best suited to their needs.

Dementia services grow Shirley Rowney has joined our health care team to head up the continuing development of dementia services at Amana Living.

This role is central to our strategic direction as we strive to meet the growing need for support, both from people living with dementia and their carers.

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As an Amana Living operations manager, Helen Fullarton moves across from St George’s Care Centre in Bayswater to oversee our two transition care centres.

Peter Humphries has been appointed as the new centre operations manager for St George’s Care Centre.

Chaplaincy support for southern region Evelyn Crommelin has joined the chaplaincy team to support our residents in Bull Creek (Frederick Guest), Coolbellup, Mandurah and South Perth.

Our chaplains offer pastoral care and worship services for all, regardless of background and religious affiliation.

Paul Dean enjoys chatting with a resident at Moline Village.

Staff Profile Paul Dean, Maintenance Supervisor Paul Dean joined Amana Living as a maintenance officer for Yallambee Hostel in Mundaring 14 years ago. Now he supervises a team of 16. We asked him why he enjoys working in aged care.

Paul, why did you come to work for Amana Living 14 years ago?

I was working on underground power installation and maintenance, and as these services became more competitive, there wasn’t so much work around. At the time, Amana Living – or Anglican Homes as it was then – was managing Yallambee Hostel. I saw an ad for the role there and thought, why not? But the job turned out to be quite different from what I was expecting.

In what ways did the job surprise you?

I was expecting the stereotypical sort of aged care home – you know, people sitting in chairs waiting to die, a sterile hospital-type environment, that sort of thing. But it was the exact opposite – homely is the best way to describe it. Some of the residents still drove and were fairly active too.

The best thing for me though was getting to know them. I quickly realised that this wasn’t going to be just a maintenance job. There were some great individuals living at Yallambee. As I went about my job, I started chatting with them and building a rapport. The stories they had to tell were amazing, especially the World War II veterans. I still enjoy getting to know the residents in the Amana Living centres and villages I go to.

How do maintenance staff make a difference?

Apart from the obvious tasks of keeping things ticking over and up to scratch, the value lies in knowing we make a real difference to the residents themselves.

Everything we do makes life a little bit easier for them.

I notice the men in particular feeling a bit frustrated that they can’t fix things as they used to, so going in and chatting with them while I do something as simple as changing a light globe can really make their day and mine.

What do you like about your current job as maintenance supervisor?

I don’t have so much contact with residents now, so I make a point of connecting with them whenever I get the chance. This is still the best part of the job. As supervisor, I have a team of 16 maintenance officers looking after several sites. Some of them have been with Amana Living for ten years or more, which is a great reflection of our workplace. We have good staff retention. The ones who stay tend to be those who enjoy making a difference in people’s lives, rather than just getting a job done.

What’s a stand-out moment from your career in aged care so far?

The fun we had at Yallambee. Don’t tell anyone, but when the manager was off-site, we used to organise wheelchair races with the residents. They loved it!

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Windows onto worlds Outside a window is a world. You may see plants, trees and flowers, an office or someone’s home, people walking or running past, cars and trucks transporting people and goods. Maybe you wonder where they are going or where they have come from.

Behind a window, another world exists. Tall office blocks have windows reflecting the sun or in deep shadows; shop windows are dressed to entice us in; houses may have open curtains allowing us a glimpse of the life inside as we pass by. Have you ever wondered what it might be like to live there?

Windows draw our eyes and our thoughts as we gaze through them. Sometimes we may find ourselves looking intentionally, seeing the shape of a tree for the first time, or watching a magpie as it pierces the grass in search of food. At other times we may find we are not really aware, our mind having drifted from the scene before us, taking our thoughts to a deeper place within – a place where we can discover the contents of our minds, seeking the wisdom of our deeper self.

Windows encourage us to gaze around and within upon God’s landscape, connecting us outwardly and inwardly to the scenes and events of daily living. At Amana Living we work to ensure that those who gaze inwards through our windows see quality and loving care.

If you see our staff gazing out of a window, they may be in that deeper place. They might be seeking wisdom to help them continue living out the Amana Living mission and values. Those values are built upon the foundation of the Christian faith and service as expressed through our Anglican Essence. It’s important to us that we never lose sight of them.

May the grace and peace of Christ bless you every day.

Revd Deborah Joyce, Senior Chaplain

McCusker Advocates When people living with dementia interact with youngsters, both generations benefit. Amana Living is seeing this happen in a variety of settings, including the recently introduced McCusker Advocates Program.

A number of studies demonstrate the positive results of intergenerational programs for people with dementia and children. But studies aside, common sense tells us that getting residents and clients together with young people is likely to be a positive experience.

The students are able to use these books as a way to prompt conversation with residents.

The McCusker Advocates Program, supported by the McCusker Charitable Foundation, is a joint initiative between All Saints’ College and Amana Living Bull Creek, coordinated by All Saints’ Head of Service Learning, Tim Russell.

Seven Year 10 students are involved this year. Two or three of the students visit Lefroy Care Centre each fortnight with Tim Russell, where they either take part in activities organised by the Amana Living occupational therapy team, or simply chat with residents in the activity room or garden area.

Some residents have Life Story books – the result of a recent program to record personal memories in a format that’s accessible to the individual and their families.

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Bernice Brown, Div Sharma, Agatha Barendrecht and Matthew Litwin.

Scholarship supports leaders The Amana Living Registered Training Organisation (RTO) has been awarded a Management Development Scholarship from the Australian Institute of Management (AIM) in WA. The scholarship recognises the need for not-for-profit organisations to offer senior staff opportunities for professional development. Amana Living RTO will receive training vouchers for staff to use in any open programs offered by the institute.

“Amana Living takes learning and development of staff very seriously, not only for the sake of their professional development, but most importantly, to benefit our

residents and clients,” said General Manager Human Resources Jenny Williams.

“Our senior staff cover a range of leadership areas, such as clinical, financial and strategic management.

This scholarship gives us access to several AIM programs that will support their development, and we are delighted to have received it.”

Family ties Amana Living has been around for more than 50 years, so it’s not unusual to hear of people having family connections to the organisation. Here’s one that caught our attention.

Louisa Thorogood became a carer for Amana Living, which was then known as Anglican Homes, in March 1991. Louisa and her husband John, who were both in their 50s, had arrived in Australia from Liverpool six months earlier to be with their sons.

John passed away in 2007 and Louisa moved to Moline Hostel in 2014 after recovering from lung cancer. She now lives with people that she used to care for, including 102-year-old Olive who was also a neighbor in Moline Village.

Our operational maintenance manager heard this story from Louisa’s son John, who now works with Amana Living as a contractor!

At her job interview, Louisa was asked about previous experience. She didn’t have any, but mentioned that she’d raised seven children. In those days, that was good enough!

Keeping it in the family, Anglican Homes employed John three weeks later as a caretaker. Initially the couple lived in the caretaker’s cottage before moving into an apartment in Moline Village.

And so began a long relationship with Amana Living.

Louisa was promoted to care coordinator and the pair even featured in an early edition of our newsletter.

Louisa Thorogood

Thanks to our sponsors Amana Living relies on the generous support of sponsors. This enables us to hold enrichment events and run programs that go beyond quality care, including our annual Residents’ and Clients’ Party and our McCusker Nurse Service for the carers of those living with dementia. We are extremely grateful to:

McCusker Charitable Foundation

The John and Beryl May Henderson Foundation, managed by Perpetual

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THANK YOU! By enriching the lives of others, you enrich your own life too.