Anglican Care Reflections - Autumn 2020

Reflections

2020 2019 AUTUMN SUMMER EDITION EDITION

OPENING OF C A Brown Lodge Let’s talk SCAMS A new virus COVID-19

Our CEO’s message to you Welcome to the Autumn issue of our Reflections Newsletter. 2020 has certainly not been dull, with much happening within our internal Anglican Care community, and influences from the external environment. I sat down to write my message early on in March, and have found the need to revisit later in March before our publication goes to print due to the fast moving and difficult events we are currently facing.

Following the extreme fire season we experienced over Summer, it has been lovely to see some much-needed rain, particularly hitting the areas that need it most. We feel fortunate that all of our facilities and consumers remained safe during this difficult time.

We are now facing a challenging time with the Novel Coronavirus outbreak. Our utmost concern is to keep our consumers and employees as safe as possible. As you would appreciate this is a very dynamic situation and recommendations are changing daily. We will endeavour to keep you informed of changes as they occur including via updates on the Anglican Care website and facebook page. Anglican Care is working closely with local authorities and any strategies implemented are based on recommendations from the Department of Health and the Hunter New England Local Health District, including measures we need to take around visitors to our residential aged care homes. We appreciate your continued cooperation and understanding.

Our culture of continuous improvement has seen a recent change to our Clinical Practice Unit. This team has been re-named as our ‘Specialist Advisory Team’ and is led by Clinical Nurse Practitioner Janean Cole. The team is available to assist consumers across Anglican Care when more complex clinical issues arise and can provide another level of assessment and care, in close consultation with GPs. The team supports our Care and Lifestyle teams and enhances Anglican Care’s commitment to person-centred care that is delivered while respecting the individual needs and preferences of our consumers.

The Royal Commission continues with November 2020 the date that the Final Report is due to be handed to the Governor-General. This report will set the framework for a complete overhaul of the aged care system – from system philosophy and design to interactions with health and disability services, to workforce, funding and regulation. We look forward to the outcomes of the Commission and how we can respond as a provider to the resulting recommendations and changes. It has recently been announced that the Commissioners have decided to cancel all hearings and workshops until at least the end of May at which time they will reassess depending on how the Coronavirus pandemic evolves.

2020 has seen Anglican Care moving into a new Strategic Planning cycle. Our organisation must have a clear ‘roadmap’ outlining what we want to achieve and how we will deliver it, with the ultimate goal of providing the very best level of care, support and services to older people in the regions in which we operate. Our current plan was from July 2017, ending in June 2020, and covered a period which saw a great deal of government reform, increased levels of competition, and changing customer expectations. As an organisation, we have made good progress in addressing these issues, while continuing to enhance and expand the services we provide. As we look towards 2023 and beyond in our Strategic Planning meetings, I am sure we will continue to meet the challenges ahead and the continuing reform. We will need to remain flexible and responsive to address the outcomes of the Royal Commission.

We are excited for the opening of C A Brown Lodge at Booragul. This state-of-the-art residential aged care home is on track for the first residents to move in towards the end of April. Mirrabooka Place, our new residential aged care home in Gloucester, is also progressing well and we anticipate residents moving into the home in October/November of this year. We are proud as an organisation of our ability to provide the very best in residential care choices to the communities in which we operate.

To end on an uplifting note, I love hearing about our ‘Connecting Generations’ program across Anglican Care, which allows for a variety of interactions amongst the generations. From the young Kids Academy students visiting Warnervale Gardens to the Year 10 students from St Pauls Catholic College at Booragul undertaking the Duke of Edinburgh Award visiting McIntosh Court and all ages and schools in between, it is a beautiful thing to witness the joy, laughter and learning that these events provide. At this time, visits from students have been suspended, but I am sure we will all look forward to the future when we can recommence these precious intergenerational activities. Please stay safe and look after yourselves and others.

Colin Osborne, CEO

WHO ARE WE? Anglican Care is dedicated to enhancing the lifestyles of seniors by providing exceptional Residential Aged Care, Retirement Living, and Community and Home Care services to the Newcastle, Central Coast and Mid Coast regions.

Anglican Care is the Aged Care Ministry of the Anglican Church of Newcastle and is a not-for-profit organisation.

Front cover features members of our care and hospitality team at Jesmond Grove.

GET IN TOUCH P 1800 733 553 E accareenquiry@anglicancare.com.au www.anglicancare.com.au Anglican Care Corporate Administration 87 Toronto Rd, Booragul NSW 2284

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK /anglicancarelifestyles

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Looking for a career in Aged Care?

We employ a huge range of roles across many fields of employment.

To find out what jobs are available, go to our Careers page on our website.

WANTING TO VOLUNTEER? We have an extensive volunteer program that is vital to supporting seniors in our community. You too could become a valuable volunteer, discover new friendships and sense of community.

To find out more, give our office a call or go to the Volunteer page on our website.

GROW GRAZE GIVE We received some fantastic recipes for our new Grow Graze Give program. A big thanks to everyone who contributed.

We were excited to incorporate our first recipe into the March menu across Anglican Care. ‘Swiss Chicken’ was submitted by Vicki Willis, the daughter of Alan Winkler who lives at Scenic Lodge. Vicki’s Mum Varelle also lived at Scenic Lodge from 2015-2018.

Swiss Chicken was one of Varelle’s favourite recipes, and she would often serve it at family dinners in the 1980s and 1990s. It certainly proved a popular choice with our consumers!

Our April Recipe of the Month will be Strawberry Wine Cheesecake, another great retro recipe that was popular in the 1960s! Submitted by Lynette Bignall from C A Brown Retirement Living at Booragul, the recipe was from a Church fundraiser and Lynette still has the original handwritten recipe!

Have you submitted

your FAVOURITE RECIPE? As part of our program we are encouraging residents, consumers, family members, volunteers and employees to share their favourite main meal or dessert recipe (max of 2 per person), with us.

Our Executive Chef, Aaron Campbell, will choose one special recipe per month. The winning recipe will be made by our hospitality team, on one or two special days, and will feature on our residential aged care home and day therapy centre’s menu.

PLUS, approximately 40 of the best recipes will be published in our NEW ANNUAL COOKBOOK. Submit your recipe(s) by post or email to: Lucinda Fetch, Anglican Care, 87 Toronto Rd, Booragul NSW 2284

OR email: recipes@anglicancare.com.au

Coronavirus

The Novel Coronavirus is a new strain of respiratory virus.

To keep up-to-date on our latest announcements and strategies implemented with regards to our residential aged care homes and home care consumers, please go to our website www.anglicancare.com.au COVID-19 has been found to be an extremely high risk for those over 80 years old. Anglican Care is taking significant measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our residents, home care consumers, retirement living residents and day therapy consumers is maintained.

We continue to follow the advice from the health authorities and are working with them to ensure we are as prepared as we can be. Our focus is on ensuring the health and wellbeing of our consumers and employees.

Times such as these remind us that we must remain vigilant in the prevention of infectious disease transmission. Practising good hand hygiene and sneeze/cough hygiene is the best defence against the spread of infectious diseases.

For further information visit www.health.gov.au

Take a listen to our NEW podcast

Let’s Talk Seniors

as co-hosts Kylie & Michelle chat to special guests about an array of topics related to seniors living happy & healthy lives. Our very first episode goes live on Monday 6th April, followed by weekly episodes. If you haven't listened to a podcast before, it's time to try something new!

Listen via

Apple & Google Podcast or our website anglicancare.com.au

giving back to community Anglican Care helps hydrate Murrurundi December 2019 saw a fantastic organisational-wide team effort where we donated an incredible eight pallets or 6,912 litres or 11,520 bottles of water to the residents of Murrurundi.

Crippled by drought, the Upper Hunter town of Murrurundi is at level 6 water restrictions, the tightest possible. The town is quite literally running out of water and Anglican Care did something about it.

The idea was the brainchild of Anglican Care’s Maintenance Manager Graeme Wray (pictured above with Darren Burgess from the Maintenance team), who saw the dire need and decided to do something about it. We ran a fundraising campaign during November and December and our team were extremely generous. Anglican Care then matched the dollars raised by our team.

What a fantastic effort – go team!

celebrating centenaries Dorothy Brown It’s no secret that we love a 100th or even a 100th+ birthday at Anglican Care.

As such, celebrations extended over a few days for Toronto Nursing Home resident and social butterfly, Dorothy Brown. A life well lived with an adored family of three daughters, 12 grand-children, 29 great grandchildren and four great great grand-children, Dorothy is a former milliner, post mistress and cook!

Joining the Anglican Care family at the sprightly age of 96 has allowed Dorothy to stay connected with her family and community as well as creating new friendships and hobbies that she would have otherwise never had the chance to develop.

Thank you for sharing your birthday celebrations with us Dorothy – it’s not every day that you meet someone who was around in the roaring 20s, the end of the Second World War, the start of Queen Elizabeth II's rule over the Commonwealth, the beginning of Elvis Presley’s and the Beatles music careers, and even the first steps on the moon. But Dorothy has witnessed it all! (Image: Dorothy Brown)

Let’s Talk Scams

MEALS MATTER We all know ‘Meals Matter’, not only from a nutritional perspective but also the social side of eating a meal with others.

It’s getting harder to spot a scam.

Scams target people of all ages, however, seniors are more likely to be targeted. Scammers perceive seniors to have more accumulated wealth and, in their eyes, are generally less internet savvy or familiar with new technology.

To protect yourself from scams, it’s important to keep abreast of the latest ways scammers are targeting Australians. The website Scamwatch.gov.au lists a number of scams including dating, investment, unexpected prize/ lottery, inheritance and rebate scams. Not forgetting identity theft, door-to-door and home maintenance scams.

There is a lot of valuable information on this site, in fact pages and pages. In this editorial we have focused on one of the many listed on Scamwatch: identity theft.

Identity Theft Attempts to gain your personal information can be done through hacking into your computer, mobile or network. Scammers use a method known as ‘phishing’, which means the scammer tricks you into handing over your personal information. For example, they may call you pretending to be a Computer Technician or something similar and attempt to trick you into giving them remote access to your computer.

Once they have remote access, they have the ability to give your computer a virus, upload unwanted software or delete files. They may then demand you pay for it to be fixed by paying for a service you don’t need.

Other scammers will use Malware/ Ransomware. This is whereby Malware tricks you into installing software that allows scammers to access your files and track what you are doing. Some ransomware demands payment to ‘unlock’ your computer or files.

Whilst this all sounds a little far-fetched and unlikely to happen to you, perhaps reconsider.

In 2017 more than 200,000 scams were reported in Australia, total losses reported were $340 million.

WARNING SIGNS - look out for: •

Emails, texts or phone calls that are unexpected and ask you to ‘validate’ or ‘confirm’ your personal details by clicking on a link or opening an attachment. The message may be poorly written and have grammatical errors.

•

Unexpected pop ups on your computer or iPad asking if you want to allow software to run.

•

Receipt of a friend request from someone you don’t know on social media.

•

You are unable to log into your social media or email account, or your profile has been logged into from an unusual location.

•

You notice money going missing from your bank account without explanation.

•

You receive bills, invoices or receipts for goods and services you didn’t purchase.

PROTECT YOURSELF - here are some ways you can alleviate your risk of being scammed: •

Don’t open suspicious texts or emails – delete them.

•

Don’t use the contact details provided in messages/emails sent to you. Find and verify the organisation's contacts yourself via phone book or online search.

•

Don’t send money or give your credit card details, or account details to anyone you don’t know or trust.

•

Choose passwords that would be difficult for others to guess.

•

Use anti-virus software and a good firewall on your computer and devices.

•

Avoid using public WiFi hotspots to access or provide personal information.

•

Be careful how much personal information you share on social sites such as Facebook and Instagram.

Scammers will use your information and pictures to create a fake identity or target you with a scam.

•

Only pay for items online using a secure payment service such as PayPal or look for websites where the URL starts with 'https' and a closed padlock icon.

•

Put a lock on your mailbox and shred/ destroy any documents containing personal information before disposing of them.

If you think you have provided your account details, passport, tax file number, licence, Medicare or other personal identification details to a scammer, contact your bank, financial institution, or other relevant agencies immediately.

Read more from our fabulous series of Let's Talk editorials via the News page of our website www.anglicancare.com.au/news

And I think we can all agree that the promise of a nice meal gives us something to look forward to!

Our ‘Meals Matter’ project has been running across Anglican Care for the past six months and is all about enhancing the dining experience for our consumers – including the introduction of ordering from a daily menu.

Other improvements have included our Hospitality Services employees undergoing training to improve their customer and table service skills and the purchase of specialised equipment. These strategies have been trialled very successfully at Toronto Nursing Home where the servery, dining area and back of house kitchen have all been upgraded.

So what do the residents think of these improvements?

So far it has been a big thumbs up with residents stating that they feel like they are dining in a restaurant and we hear the fish and chips are particularly popular! The project will continue to roll out across our other residential aged care homes over the upcoming months.

opening IN

MAY

C A Brown Lodge Our brand new home is about to open!

This purpose built home has been designed for comfort and fostering quality family moments with a wide choice of common areas, both inside and out, for all to enjoy.

Spacious and architecturally designed, the home is situated in the peaceful lakeside township of Booragul, opposite tranquil Lake Macquarie. The home has been designed to provide an optimal environment for those people requiring 24 hour support and assistance for their clinical care needs.

Residents rooms are located on two levels with nursing stations on each level. Throughout the home there are a number of lovely sitting rooms, dining rooms, lounge and activity areas. These are great spaces for our residents, families and friends to get together and enjoy each others company.

Not forgetting the numerous courtyards, terraces and access to leafy grounds.

C A Brown also features a fabulous cafe. The cafe is a great place to share lunch, coffee ‘n’ cake or just a quick bite and is available to residents, families, friends and consumers attending our day therapy centre ‘Alkira’.

Express your interest today For more information on the rooms available please call our Customer Service Team on 1800 733 553.

ROOMS AVAILABLE We have places available for 126 people whom require 24 hour support and clinical care.

The rooms are spacious, light filled rooms with lovely high ceilings and have been furnished with beautiful Manchester and decor. Each room has a built-in wardrobe, electric adjustable bed, bedside table, over-bed meals table, privacy curtains, in room nurse call, residents chair, visitors chair, LCD wide screen television, telephone, access to basic wifi and access to Foxtel.

Please visit our website for up-to-date pricing options.

LOCATION - 87 Toronto Rd, Booragul C A Brown Lodge is co-located in Booragul, adjacent to C A Brown Retirement Living Village, McIntosh Court and Anglican Care’s Corporate Administration building.

The home is also conveniently located ten minutes from Toronto Private Hospital and is close to public transport. C A Brown Lodge enjoys close ties with local GPs, schools and other community groups.

What’s NEWS? IN MEMORIAM ARCHDEACON OF THE MANNING It is with great sadness that we share with you the news of former Archdeacon of The Manning, Reverend Milton Fowell OAM, whom passed away on Tuesday, 25th February. Reverend Fowell was the Foundation Chairman, as well as a larger driver, in the development and growth of Storm Village and its later sibling, Bishop Tyrrell Place.

He was involved with Storm Village from its inception in 1984 and the growth of these facilities in Taree and Cundletown is true testimony to his passion and expertise.

As a Parish Priest and Archdeacon of The Manning spanning a quarter of a century, Reverend Fowell contributed significantly to the community, taking up the additional position as Foundational Chair of Manning Valley Anglican College. It is well remembered at the College's official opening in 2011, his emotional recounting of the history of the College, and seeing it go from a dream to reality.

"Milton Fowell Court" at Storm Village remains a fitting and lasting memory to his legacy and vision. Our thoughts and prayers are with Reverend Fowell’s family, friends and loved ones.

DISCOVER NEW Editorials on our website

GLOUCESTER INFO SESSIONS SESSION THREE - POSTPONED Our third session 'Remain Happy at Home' has been postponed until further notice, we apologise for any inconvenience.

OUT & ABOUT AUSTRALIA DAY CELEBRATIONS There were some lovely celebrations in January. Particularly with the consumers from our Gardens Day Group on the Central Coast and Storm Village in Taree (pictured below).

VOLUNTEER UPDATE VOLUNTEER MEETINGS - POSTPONED Due to current outbreak of Coronavirus and subsequent government restrictions, we are unable to hold volunteer meetings at this time.

We will continue to contact you via your preferred method of contact to keep you up-to-date with all volunteer information.

Our much loved Trash and Treasure which was to be held in April has also been postponed.

Christmas Lunch Hunter – Thursday, 3rd December, 2020 CWL – Friday, 11th December, 2020 SRV – Thursday, 17th December, 2020

WINNERS ARE GRINNERS Our crafty ladies at Jesmond Grove have done it again, taking out the top gong in the Newcastle Show’s Handicraft Competition for their project 'Groovy Granny's Woolly Walker'. This follows a long winning streak where for the past couple of years they have either won this category or placed as a finalist.

ARCHI - OUR NEW INTRANET

i h c r A t e e M

IMPROVING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS Anglican Care is excited to be introducing a new Intranet as a tool to enhance communication with our employees and volunteers. The Intranet is called ‘Archi’ and will be a hub for all our information including policies and procedures, upcoming training, events and good news stories. Our volunteers will also be given access to Archi which will be accessible via a PC, iPad or mobile phone.

More information will be provided to our employees and volunteers in the upcoming months.

GET READY - 6TH APRIL 2020 - IS OUR NEW

LET'S TALK SENIORS PODCAST Hosted by Kylie Jacques and Michelle Payne

This series of talks, with special guest speakers, will cover a range of topics to help keep seniors happy and healthy.

Listen via our website, Apple & Google Podcast!

RETIREMENT LIVING NEWS

Hear from Winsome of

Anglican Care's C A Brown Retirement Living Village In our village chapel there are four beautiful stained glass windows. Each feature an Australian native wildflower: the Christmas Bell, wattle, Sturt's Desert Plea and a Flannel Flower. When the sun shines through the windows, the reflections light up the floor of the chapel, so peaceful! All residents in Anglican Care facilities are invited to attend Sunday worship and are made most welcome by our Chaplin Rev'd Jenny Foley.

By the time you read this, the new C A Brown Lodge will be complete. It certainly looks grand. We are looking forward to having a tour of this wonderful new home.

The heat of this Summer certainly caused havoc to our gardens, especially when the 2nd stage of the water restrictions came into force. But, our day trip to the Central Coast to visit award winning gardens bolstered our spirits. The trip gave us some wonderful ideas for when cooler weather arrives.

One of our day trips was certainly an eye-opener, we travelled on the Newcastle Light Rail to the New Space University. What an amazing facility. Not a desk in sight. The view from the top floor was amazing. We continued on via the light rail to enjoy lunch at Queens Wharf. Another great day out.

A day on beautiful Lake Macquarie was enjoyed by many of our residents before the Christmas festivities commenced. The crew served up a delicious BBQ and scrumptious desserts. The weather was perfect for sailing, although when Carolyn took the wheel, I think our hearts missed a beat.

Our village Christmas luncheon was attended by over 40 of our residents. What a feast. Light hearted entertainment was provided by the "Side by Side" ukulele group - it was fabulous. New Year's Day was celebrated with a relaxing afternoon on the village green. The green is such a lovely area with lush lawns surrounded by beautiful Jacaranda trees.

As always, our hard working Social Committee continue to ensure we have wonderful social get togethers, special dinners and a variety of entertainers throughout the year.

Lastly, a little quote to remember ...

Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and sleep alone!