Inform Newsletter - September Issue 19

September 2016 Issue 19

Farewell from Mark LLoyd, Managing Director

Amherst Court visit Capstone Park Riverdale Court making the most out of the weather Home Care & Support recruitment Allington Rural Youth Club Summer Fete

Amherst Court

Farewell...

After three years with Avante Care & Support, Mark Lloyd, Managing Director, departed at the end of September to take up a new post with the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution (RMBI).

Mark says, “I leave Avante Care & Support in a far stronger position than when I arrived, as a provider of reputation in the daily delivery of services for young and old people I have been able to lead a restructuring of the business which has seen our portfolio of care homes reduce from 15 to 9, but resulted in investment in our remaining services as dementia specialist focused, which will now ensure a solid and secure future for the Charity. We now have quality, recognised and well-respected dementia care homes along with a thriving domiciliary care business and continued specialist young people services.

Bridge Haven

It has been a privilege to be the Managing Director of Avante Care & Support through a period of significant change not least influenced by the profound continuing challenges in the health and social care sectors. Funding at a national and local level remains a concern for us all, as well as so many families faced with finding affordable good quality care for their family members.

Despite this Avante Care & Support now enjoys a strong reputation as a provider of choice and I am particularly pleased before I leave to see the creation of a partnership with Medway Community Healthcare Trust during August 2016 for the running of a specialist Stroke Unit at our Amherst Court home. This is innovative thinking at its best in finding new partnerships which meet the local needs. This builds on our entry into nursing and mental health care at Puddingstone Grange.

Puddingstone Grange

Riverdale Court

Becoming only the second provider to receive an ‘outstanding’ CQC grade in Kent in 2015 for Amherst Court, will be something I will remember, as well as the excellent success of our ‘My Home Life’ training and support programme for Home Managers which has seen the positive development of the management team in becoming leaders of their homes. Our success as a Charity in so far registering ‘Good’ CQC grades is all credit to the work of the hard working operational team.

Our success in the past 18-months in winning and renewing our tenders has been good to see not least for the strong and outstanding quality scores which have stood out against competitors. We are particularly fortunate to enjoy strong commissioning relationships most notable with Bexley where we remain a prime partner.

Parkview

However, it is the everyday stories of people using our services, their families, and the extra mile taken by so many of our staff that has made this opportunity to be the Managing Director so worthwhile.

Avante Care & Support is a great organisation to work for and be part of and all of us who are or have been associated with the Charity should be proud of the support of probably over 50,000 people over the last 26 years!

I wish my successor every success in taking Avante Care & Support forward to reach new heights in innovation, quality, and delivery.”

Mark Lloyd Managing Director Avante Care & Support

Amherst Court Visit Capstone Park

It was a beautiful day, so residents along with staff from Amherst Court went to visit Capstone Park. Taking the slower walk all the way around, everyone enjoyed seeing the ducks and spotting butterflies and dragonflies along the way.

Douglas said “We couldn’t ask for better weather for Britain really”. Dave enjoyed walking Sam and stopping for a quick sunbathe, he refused to wear a top saying “I’m enjoying this while I can, I love the sun!”.

Parkview Visit ‘The Yacht’ A couple of ladies from Parkview Care Home stopped by at the local pub, ‘The Yacht’ for a coffee. Soon enough everyone gave in and ordered a large dessert to share!

Riverdale Court Visit Herne Bay and Greenwich Park Residents and staff at Riverdale Court treated themselves to two trips recently, making the most of the brilliant weather across the country. The first day trip was to Herne Bay seafront where ice creams, fresh sea air and sun was order of the day. The second trip was to Greenwich Park where everyone enjoyed a picnic, great weather and the sights and sounds of the park itself.

Baking at

Pilgrims View Residents spent the morning baking cheese scones in preparation for the ‘Coffee Morning’ held at Pilgrims View Care Home. The ‘Coffee Morning’ is a great chance for people to meet and make new friends over a nice cup of coffee and in this case, cheese scones!

Visiting the

Oasis Academy On Friday 23rd September, staff and residents from Court Regis Care Home in Sittingbourne, set out on the mini-bus to visit the Oasis Academy located on the Isle of Sheppey.

Activities Coordinator, Tina Galloway and Carer Kara Nicholson took three residents, Ann, Frances and Ted. Alongside the group, Day Care Officer Jeannette Spooner and two day care clients, Rose and Sheila also came along for the trip. “We arrived at The Oasis Academy at 10am. As we entered we were greeted by the students who were very polite, escorting our group to the auditorium, where tables were laid out and decorated for their guests.

Chinese delegates had also arrived on the day, part of an overseas trip to see how we support people living with dementia in our country, with the Mayor of Swale making a presentation on the topic.

The students were patient, kind, respectful and eager to get us everything we wanted, waited on tables and brought cakes and drinks. Around the room there were reminiscence pictures and books laid out for us to look through. Some of the younger students sang and danced for us and there were opportunities to try table tennis. There were also hair and beauty students offering hand massages and manicures.

We left the academy at 11.30am, stopping in Minster Lees for an ice cream before returning to Court Regis and The Willows for lunch.�

- Day Care Officer Jeannette Spooner

On the morning of Sunday 21st August 2016, Avante Care & Support staff, residents and family members took their first steps on The Big Walk.

The fundraiser involved walking from one care home to another along the route.

Everyone started their journey at 10.30 in the morning, with staff and residents celebrating the arrivals of walkers.

Puddingstone Grange met with Weybourne to team-up and face The Big Walk 2.4 mile challenge together.

Sporting our branded Big Walk sash and comfortable walking shoes, we optimistically set ourselves the task to finish well within the hour, and to our credit, we achieved it – with time to spare!

Bill, Jason and Allison were the first group to finish, commenting that it felt great completing the challenge and earning their medal

The walkers starting from Parkview were Pat Collis, Jo Thompson and her daughter, son in law, grandson (5) and granddaughter (7). The group arrived at Riverdale at 11.30 and were greeted by residents and Activity Coordinator, Bernie, providing everyone with a much welcomed cup of tea and biscuits.

Keep an eye out for our next update on the Big Walk to find out how much everyone raised!

Celebrating 20 Years at Avante Care & Support Jacqui Morris, Director of Quality Standards & Compliance celebrates 20 years working at Avante Care & Support!

Jacqui was born and educated in Thanet, Kent. In 1980 she began her career in social care running a day-centre for the elderly. At twenty-four, she became one of the youngest managers to run a residential care home for people with mental health issues. In 1988 she was appointed General Manager and Company Director of CNH Ltd, managing dual registered nursing homes.

Jacqui joined us in 1996 as the Home Manager at Barton Court on the Isle of Sheppey. In 1998, the role was expanded to include the management responsibility for Court Regis in Sittingbourne. This was then followed by Jacqui being appointed to the position of East Kent Area Manager. In 2003 Jacqui was then appointed the General Manager for our London Care Homes. Jacqui is now Director of Quality Standards & Compliance.

Every Slice

Saves a Life Friday 30th September saw staff at De Gelsey House enjoy plenty of homemade cakes and other sweet treats with their morning coffee.

Best Baker - Andrew for his double chocolate brownies!

Highly Recommended - Jon’s Mum for a lovely lemon drizzle cake!

All proceeds raised will benefit the great work of Macmillan Cancer Support.

New Signage at

De Gelsey House Based in Faversham, Avante Care & Support’s Head Office recently recieved its new sign, a large version of the charity logo! The sign has been attached to the outer wall, with ‘De Gelsey House’ just below it.

Avante Home Care & Support

Recruitment Jon Green is a Recruitment Officer for the Avante Home Care and Support service. Jon has been working with Avante since August 2015. His role is varied, travelling between the two sites, always looking for new and innovative ways to attract people into a rewarding career within Adult Social Care. Jon recently held a stand at both the Faversham and Swanley Markets, where two new members of staff were recruited.

both enjoyable and rewarding, who in turn support our service users to live independently within their own homes.”

“They say that variety is the spice of life and as Recruitment Officer for Home Care & Support I can confirm that this is true. As I work out of both the Bexley and Kent branches I get to meet a great number of different people with varied and diverse backgrounds.

All new care workers undertake a comprehensive, 5 day training programme, they then carry out shadow shifts within the community with experienced carers enabling them to obtain real life experience within the role.

Recently, I attended the Faversham and Swanley markets and had a stall advertising Avante services and attracting new carers to work for us.

If you are interested in a rewarding career within Avante Care & Support’s Home Care service please contact us by phone on 0800 977 8705, or by email Homecare@avantecare.org.uk or visit the website at www.avantecare.org.uk

Personally, I like helping people. I achieve this in two ways in my role, by helping care workers into new employment opportunities which are

Farewell Mary and Bill We are saying a fond farewell to Mary and Bill Kennedy from Kennedy Page Training Ltd who have delivered training within Avante’s Home Care & Support service in Kent and Bexley over the past five years.

From delivering induction training for new Care Workers to providing regular refresher training to our existing carers, Mary and Bill have been central to the development of our learning and development programme.

This training has enabled carers to develop their skills and confidence in the care and support they provide for Service Users. We are extremely grateful to Mary and Bill for their wonderful dedication and commitment to Avante Home Care & Support and we wish them well for the future.

Allington Rural Youth Club

Summer Fete

After a cloudy start to the day, the sun came out just in time for the Allington Summer Fete. The youth club is for 11+, run by qualified Stepahead Support staff. The club provides social events, table tennis, swimming and organised days out.

The club has been very successful with over 60 attendees during a given week.

The afternoon kicked off with a Taylor Swift tribute singer as well as a bouncy castle, Lazar Wars, inflatables, BBQ and plenty of ice creams. Presentation and awards were given out by Youth Workers, Holly and Emily.

Lending a Furry Paw The cafĂŠ at Amherst Court is a lovely, friendly place to meet up to discuss monthly business. Stepahead Support staff get a chance to catch up with emails and undertake supervisions. One of the regular visitors to Amherst was very kind in lending a furry paw with our paper work.