Avante News September 2010A

Avante News Autumn 2010 www.avantepartnership.org.uk

Avante Great Summer Getaway!

THE HIGHLIGHT OF SUMMER 2010

60 Second Interview with Jacqui Morris

May celebrates her 105th!

Amherst Court ÂŁ8 Million We met Ben Investment in Care from the X Factor

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New business team

Cedric Frederick - Chief Executive

As a charity, Avante Partnership is ‘apolitical’ in that we operate outside of politics, working for the benefit of our service users with whichever political party is in control at a national, regional or local level.

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t is not for the organisation or any individual within it to have a view on the results of the General Election on May 6th and the momentous events that have taken place since, with the formation of the

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country’s first coalition government in 70 years.

However, like almost every part of our society, Avante Partnership is feeling the effects of the coalition government’s key policies and their efforts to reduce the deficit.

aylea Jemmett joined Avante Partnership in April 2010 as part of a scheme called ‘The future jobs fund’ through Kent County Council. She started her role as a Trainee Administrator working with the team in the Community Support department, which she found very interesting.

Members of: • National Housing Federation • The National Care Forum • Kent Community Care Association • IAHSA

Working with:

The financial challenges faced by our local authority partners in particular are significant, and we understand the need for us to play our part in supporting them to meet their cost reduction targets.

At the same time, we remain totally committed to ensuring that we not only continue to provide the highest quality services possible, but strive to improve the quality of our services. In order to achieve this we are asking ourselves tough questions about what we do, how we do it and whether we can do it more efficiently.

We remain very ambitious for the organisation, the people we care for and support and our wonderful staff who work so hard to achieve the results and outcomes that we want.

Yes, we make mistakes and we do not get it right every time, but when things don’t go as well as we would like, we are quick to acknowledge our mistake and commit to learning lessons and working hard to ensure that we get it right in the future. That being said, I am very pleased to say that we get it right much more often than we get it wrong.

For many, the highlight of the summer should have been England returning from the World Cup clutching that gold trophy. As we know, it didn’t quite work out like that. The team didn’t gel and too many players under performed. Perhaps Fabio Capello should have taken a leaf out of the Avante Partnership book and popped into Amherst Court, our newest 112 bed residential care home in Chatham for some advice about teamwork, commitment to excellence and achieving the goals you set for yourself. Fabio only had a squad of 23 footballers to think about, whilst my colleagues Tracey Jones and Geoff Ward led a team of literally hundreds of people to achieve what is a fantastic result.

Congratulations and ‘thank you’ to everybody who has worked so hard to deliver a great new care home.

As ever, I hope you enjoy reading this new look edition of Avante News.

Cedric Frederick Chief Executive

for several years before moving back to Kent to start a family.

Diane Rogers

Operational HR Manager

Diane was born in Kent and after college moved to London where she started her HR career in the hotel and hospitality industry

Gary Bartlett

Regulation Manager

Gary was born in London and spent his primary school years in Australia.

Most of his working life has been in the

A Company Limited by Guarantee (Registration No. 2565021, England) A Registered Charity (Registered No.1002727)

Registered office: De Gelsey House, 1 Jubilee Way, Faversham, Kent ME13 8GD Tel: 01795 597400 Fax: 01795 597419 Email: enquiries@avantepartnership.org.uk Website: www.avantepartnership.org.uk

Diane’s hobbies include cooking, DIY, reading and shopping!!!

care sector. Indeed, he worked as a Care Assistant at Barnetts when it was owned and operated by Kent County Council and which now, of course, is one of our homes! After a varied career which included working in KCC’s area finance and contracting sections, Gary became an Inspector with Inspection and Registration in 2000 and regulated care services throughout the various incarnations of NCSC, CSCI and CQC.

Janys Ness HR Manager

Having left school at sixteen Janys followed family tradition and went into banking and joined Nat West in the West End of London.

where she worked as Group Marketing Manger for Highlands and Islands Airports Caroline is reacquainting herself with marketing colleagues within the area.

Caroline Williams Marketing Manager

Belinda Watson Operations Manager

Belinda began her career in the care industry 15 years ago as a relief Sheltered Scheme Manager for Tonbridge

Belinda has an NVQ 4 in both Health and Social Care and the Registered Manager Award. She would like to study for a Diploma in Dementia, an area that is close to her heart.

Her previous marketing roles have included working for Eurotunnel, P&O Ferries, Leukaemia Research Fund and DMB and B advertising agency.

Caroline has joined Avante Partnership’s Property and Business Development Team Caroline is married, and as Marketing Manager. enjoys anything to do with travel, motor sports, historical Having just moved back sites and walking. to Kent from Scotland,

and Malling Housing Association. In more recent years she has worked as a Registered Residential Home Manager and Area Manager Residential for a private sector company.

More recently Kaylea has been working alongside the Chief Executive’s PA, Karen Flynn, where she has been learning about the organisation as a whole. One of Kaylea’s many tasks was to help with this edition of Avante News which she has really enjoyed.

Established 1990. Avante Partnership

Once returning to work after having her son Diane continued her HR career in private sector companies before moving into the public sector which included Kent Police for 6 years and prior to joining Avante Partnership, Kent Fire & Rescue Service.

Janys quickly realised this was far too stuffy a career path for her and left to join Tesco. After a brief stint in the cash office to use those bank skills, she was given the opportunity to train in HR and that was the start of her 24 year career in HR. This has included roles with other retailers, both high street and independent, to the Biotech and Pharmaceutical industry and more recently in supported living for adults with learning disabilities.

Carmel Stevenson Operational Manager

Lyn was born in Buckinghamshire and moved to Essex when she was 8 years old to complete her education.

On leaving school she married and had 5 children. When her 3rd child reached 6 months old she worked as an Auxiliary Nurse at her local NHS hospital.

Lyn went from there to a private domiciliary care provider as a carer and worked her way through the ranks to become a registered manager at a Kent branch. She was then lucky enough to be offered a new challenge as Operations Manager at Avante Care and Support.

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“International Dementia Conference

HAILED A MAJOR SUCCESS”

Over 200 people packed Canterbury Christ Church University’s Laud Centre in May to hear from speakers from around the world at the inaugural Dementia Services Development Centre – South East International Dementia Conference.

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fter signing a 3 year agreement last year, Avante Partnership, along with Canterbury Christ Church University and Dementia UK jointly organised and hosted the conference which has been hailed a tremendous success.

The conference provided Dementia UK the perfect opportunity to launch their Admiral Nurse Academy website and John Suchet, Dementia UK’s Honorary President, launched his latest ‘My Bonnie’, a moving account of his experience of dementia and how it ‘stole the love of his life’, his wife Bonnie.

a number of its business partners was able to bring the US based Dr Thomas to the UK and in addition to his keynote speech and running two conference workshops, Dr Thomas held a special workshop for Avante’s managers and staff.

The two day conference attracted the attention of the national press and was reported on BBC South East.

Cedric Frederick, Avante Partnership’s Chief Executive who chaired day 1 of the conference said ‘Our involvement in the Dementia Services Development Centre is proving to be a fantastic opportunity for our organisation to make a major contribution to the development of thinking and practice in the field of dementia.

This conference is the first of many exciting events we intend to run and be

The two day conference attracted the attention of the national press and was reported on BBC South East.

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Amongst the many conference highlights, the presence of Dr Bill Thomas, founder of the Eden Alternative on which Avante Care and Support has based its Philosophy of Care had the greatest impact. Avante, helped by the financial support of

Dr Adrian Adams of Canterbury Christchurch University, and an Avante Partnership Trustee, opens the conference Penny Hibberd, Director of Dementia Services Development Centre South East

Renowned broadcaster, John Suchet, spoke movingly about his wife Bonnie, who now has dementia

Avante Partnership’s Chief Executive, Cedric Frederick, chaired day 1 of the conference

part of in the future. The opportunity for our staff to spend time with Dr Bill Thomas and hear him speak about The Eden Alternative was fantastic and our staff were left inspired and energised.’

Avante Partnership would like to thank Sagittarius Marketing, Unique Training Solutions, Lawson Queay, Castleoak, Network Resource Group and Capita for their generous support that enabled us to bring Dr Bill Thomas to the International Conference.

Dr Bill Thomas, founder of the Eden Alternative, addresses the conference

Delegates in good voice as the conference is kicked off with a rousing ‘Sing for your Life’ session

Barbara Stephens, Chief Executive of Dementia UK

John Suchet, Honorary President of Dementia UK, launched his book, “My Bonnie” at the conference. The book tells of his experience of dementia and how it ‘stole the love of his life,’ his wife, Bonnie

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£8 Million

investment in care An £8 million state-of-the-art residential care home in Medway has been officially handed over to Avante Care & Support, part of one of the largest social care providers in the South East.

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mherst Court, Chatham, was built by Denne Construction for the Avante Partnership and will be home to 112 residents with dementia.

Named in recognition of its connection to Chatham and proximity to Fort Amherst, Amherst Court was designed with the Eden Alternative in mind.

A new philosophy that aims to tackle loneliness, helplessness and boredom in older people, the Eden Alternative places an emphasis on spontaneity, companionship and variety and is being rolled out across Avante Care & Support’s 19 homes in Kent and South East London.

Cedric Frederick, Chief Executive of the Avante Partnership, said: “We are extremely proud of this new building and what it will represent for our customers. Amherst Court will offer the highest quality of care for older people living with dementia in surroundings where residents can enjoy a safe and stimulating lifestyle.”

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Built in just 18 months, the home’s 112 ensuite bedrooms are divided into

six suites, each containing a lounge area and dining room, which gives a more intimate and homely feel.

Additional communal areas such as music and games room are situated at the end of each hallway; ensuring residents never reach a dead end when exploring the home.

Paul Newstead, Contracts Manager at Denne, commented: “We are absolutely thrilled to have handed over the completed project. The scheme has been a resounding success and it has been a pleasure to work in partnership with Avante throughout the course of the development. We hope that all of the residents will be delighted with their new home.” Medway Council owns the site at Palmerston Road, which was previously occupied by the Churchlands Residential Care Home, and has granted a long lease to the Avante Partnership to enable the home to be built. Thanks to special arrangements made between the Avante Partnership and Medway Council, places at Amherst

Court will be available for local residents at an affordable price.

Cllr Tom Mason, Medway Council’s portfolio holder for Adult Services, said: “The redevelopment of this home is wonderful. The council had identified the need for extra dementia care in the area and through partnership with Avante Care & Support we have been able to provide this in a modern setting.”

“Residential care is one part of a range of services that will meet the challenge of dementia care, for those who can no longer remain independent within their own homes.

Amherst Court has been designed to meet residents’ needs and provides them with plenty of opportunities to take part in stimulating and interesting activities in a state-of-the-art facility.”

from Lennox Wood, Twydall, they will move in to Amherst Court in August. Avante undertook extensive consultation with residents and their families over a two-year period to ensure disruption was kept to a minimum. A further 28 bedrooms are available for new residents and open days will be held every Saturday throughout August from 10am-4pm.

Amherst Court also has a licensed café bar, a hair salon and secure landscaped gardens and terraces.

We are extremely proud of this new building and what it will represent for our customers.

Amherst Court will offer the highest quality of care for older people living with dementia in surroundings where residents can enjoy a safe and stimulating lifestyle

Additionally, the home will offer flexible day care services to support families that are caring for a relative with dementia in their own home.

“The redevelopment of this home is wonderful”

Residents that previously lived at Churchlands were moved temporarily to Avante’s Shaws Wood home, Strood, to enable the demolition and rebuilding to take place.

Together with residents

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View Plenty of Success at Pilgrim’s

An impressive total of £600 was raised

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n impressive total of £600 was raised at the Pilgrims View fete in June. Braving the less than idyllic weather, an exceptional amount of visitors turned out to see the event opened

by Sue Murray, the Mayor of Tonbridge and Malling.

After plenty of hard work and generous delving into pockets, the day paid off with a substantial sum raised to put towards a cooker for the sole use of Service Users. Soon the delicious smells of nutritious meals and freshly baked cakes will be wafting from Pilgrim’s View!

The ingredients for the meals at Pilgrims View will be extra fresh, due to some expert farming by service user Peter Turk. Peter has grown an impressive hoard of vegetables in the communal plot, including beetroot, courgettes, onions and lettuces. He is understandably very proud of his green treasure, which will be included in meals which will be shared between service users.

News from Perrygrove

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errygrove held a boot sale on Saturday 7th August.

Lorraine and Beverley; two members of care staff, who are organising activities in the absence of a permanent activity organiser, came in early and gave up their Saturday. Lorraine’s husband also kindly came to help.

Tables were set up outside and a gazebo which served as the ‘clothing department’. Teas and coffees were also served for a very reasonable 20 pence per cup.

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t’s all about summer fun at Barton Court! Service Users have been making the most of the plentiful sunshine with long lunches in the garden and enjoying vegetables which have been lovingly grown and tended to on the allotment. Pictured is Pat Lyons enjoying her fish and chip supper in the garden under cool shade of a parasol, and Dennis Hillmill admiring the plentiful Barton Court vegetable crop.

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£367.67 RAISED

A spectacular show based around the 1950’s and 60’s was brought to Parkview by a company called SG Productions. Service Users all had a great time, enjoying the show, and admiring the flamboyant outfits!

Isle of Sheppey Sunshine

t Pauls Academy is becoming more involved with their local community and have made links with the Avante Care and Support Home, Weybourne.

Staff and service users organised a Fete on Saturday 14th August, they raised £367.67 to go towards the service user’s amenities fund and everyone enjoyed the event.

with events for service users at Parkview! Here is just a few pictures to show you what we’ve been up to:

Service Users and staff from the home went out to look for a bargain. Locals from the Cherry Orchard Estate and relatives added to the buyers. Luckily the rain held off until everything was cleared away at 2.00pm. £168 was raised which will go into the homes amenity fund.

Weybourne link with St Pauls Academy

Sunbury Lodge News

Parkview May Celebrates her Summer Album 105th Birthday The summer has been jam-packed

This is a home for the elderly, many of whom are suffering from varying degrees of dementia and the Academy hope to be able to offer some input to help stimulate and occupy the residents and in this way support the staff as well.

Already, the Drama, Music and Art departments have become involved and Year 8 students have been providing tins of dog food for the rescued greyhound, Holly, who is a favourite with the residents. Year 9 have also been raising funds to help provide new equipment for the home and it is hoped that, as this link develops, other areas of the school community will also become involved and that the residents will be able to visit the Academy.

Sharing knowledge, talents and experience can only be of benefit to all.

Service users were torn for choice at the Annual Homeleigh Tea Dance - the decision was tough, with some service users choosing to waltz the afternoon away while others opted to sip tea and munch delicious fresh cream cakes!

Centenary

Birthday at Parkview and Ines herself was pampered, ready to be in the spotlight.

A relaxing trip to Herne Bay was organised for service users and their families. The weather was good, and everyone enjoyed the excuse to nibble on fish and chips or have a sneaky ice-cream!

It was All aboard on the day out on the paddle steamer!

Service users and their families got to enjoy a day on the river, before stopping for well-deserved afternoon tea!

It’s a hard life living at Parkview!

A woman with ten great-grandchildren has celebrated her 105th birthday.

May Pennington was born in 1905 in Northfleet, Kent. May left school at 14 and eventually worked for 20 years in the accounts department of Gulf Oil where she was known by

colleagues as the “stock office queen”.

Mrs Pennington, who has been married twice and has a son and stepson, celebrated her birthday with family and fellow residents at the Maryville sheltered housing scheme in Baltimore Place, Welling.

She also received a telegram from the Queen, bunches of flowers, and a visit by Deputy Mayor of Bexley Councilor James Spencer.

Support officer, Sylvia Batchelor, said: “May had her face made up especially.

She had a lovely time, she really did”.

There was a special reason to party at Parkview in June as service user, Ines Mayell, reached her 100th birthday.

Ines, who has been at Parkview for five years, celebrated the milestone birthday with a party organised by staff, relatives and fellow service users.

The morning passed in a whirl of events; activity coordinators worked busily in the lounge setting up balloons, banners and nibbles for the party, service users picked decorative flowers from the garden,

Ines received plenty of well wishes and presents for her birthday, which included a bunch of flowers from Cedric, Chief Executive, and a congratulatory birthday card from the Queen. Jean Tonge, the Home Manager at Parkview, read out the touching message which reduced a few people to tears! They rounded up the morning with a verse of “Happy Birthday” and a slice of birthday cake which the Cook had made specially.

Ines continued the celebrations in the afternoon by having her favourite meal, curry, for lunch with her family.

All in all, a special and exciting day at Parkview!

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2010

! y a w a t e G r e m m u S t a e r Avante G F

families and staff came in or the first time fancy dress and dozens that people could of brightly coloured and remember, the decorated gazebos added 2010 Great to the festival atmosphere.

Summer Getaway was Picnic lunches and not threatened by rain! refreshments were ot, Asc al Never mind Roy prepared with care and Henley and Glastonbury, eaten with gusto, whilst the gathering of Avante ‘Rat Pack’ tribute group rs Partnership’s service use ee to Swing’, a face and staff at Aylesford Priory ‘Thr painter and close magician on the 28th July was THE provided the entertainment. highlight of a long hot summer!

Whilst some might say that the results of the In keeping with tradition, fancy dress competition, hundreds of service users,

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won by service users and staff from Weybourne for their ‘My Fair Lady’ theme was the highlight of the day ’s event, others might suggest that Geoff Ward’s impromptu and clearly unrehearsed rendition of a Dean Martin classic just about topped that. Whilst clearly Geoff might be a mild mannered Regional Director by day, clearly at night he becomes a Las Vegas style crooner!

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4 x 5 FILM

I then started looking for a suitable dog. I visited many dog rescue websites until I found a dog that sounded perfect and would fit in well at Northbourne Court. I visited Foal Farm and was introduced to Sasha, an 8 year old and very overweight Border Collie cross. I fell in love straight away and knew that the service users would love her too. Sasha is like a big, white, fluffy teddy bear, and I brought her home the same day.

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When Sasha and I arrived at Northbourne Court, everybody was very excited.

I firstly took her into the Keats Suite, for service users with dementia, and as soon as they saw Sasha they raced to meet her and their faces all lit up. Although totally unfit,

Sasha is such a success at Northbourne Court that we contacted Foal Farm to ask if they had another dog that would be suitable.

We were offered Mikey, a 6 year old Lurcher and Greyhound cross. Mikey lives on the first floor, and Sasha lives on the ground floor. They both give the service users in the suites a great deal of pleasure.

They meet up at intervals during the day when Mikey is taken for a walk or taken to the garden. They sometimes play together but Mikey likes to run around, and being a lot fitter than Sasha, it annoys her and she and she tells him off, as she just enjoys rolling around on the grass.

This entertains the service users as they watch them.

Our thanks go to Foal Farm for providing our service users with perfect pets.

Jill Jones Suite Manager Northbourne Court

Benbow, pictured who is 91years old, who has varicose veins and poor circulation. He is using the power plate with consent from his doctor and with a full risk assessment; he said he felt a benefit from this even from the first attempt.

At Cramonde Court we have just received a Vibrating Plate from London & Quadrant.

This is a revolutionising exercise machine that is being used in all the gyms, it tones and exercises the body without any exertion.

The Vibrating Plate can help because of the low impact nature of this vibration training. The benefits of physical exercise are once more available for many of those no longer able to perform traditional physical activities.

I have four service users using it including Mr

James Hunter Support Officer

Holidays

at Home(leigh) 2010

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he holidays are over now – but the weather was kind and the only real casualties were the rubber ducks, left high and dry when a small fisherman punctured the paddling pool. Seriously though, we were all shattered by the end of the fortnight.

This year, in an effort to extend a ‘ holiday experience’ to all service users we arranged (or rather Jo, our Activity Coordinator did) a fortnight’s programme to try and benefit everyone.

So we had a trip to the London Aquarium by river boat, pub lunches, the Summer Getaway, a garden party, a fish and chip supper, a pamper morning, two children’s parties with magician, face painting, sand pit, ducks, etc. We had a Rat Pack entertainer, a BBQ, a trip along the

river Medway, a day by the seaside in Southend, a posh dinner for service users and families, (with waitress service) and a Mr Whippy ice-cream van outside the dining room playing ‘tunes’ and dispensing some 56 cones full of soft ice cream.

‘Dean Martin’, on bended knee, sang to individual admirers; the ice cream got to places never reached by candyfloss; the pampered service users looked relaxed and fragrant while the staff rushed about with bowls of water, oils, towels and body lotion on a very hot day!

But one of the highlights for me was the Darts Tournament when service users’ mental arithmetic knocked spots off the calculator generation.

It may not be like that in Eden but this is Erith after all.

Susan Ilott Home Manager

Avante’s

Budding Photographer

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ane Brett started with Avante Care and Support in April 2010 on a training scheme called ‘the future jobs fund’. Kane has been working in the post of Trainee Quality Assurance Administrator for 3 months now and has been enjoying his time in this role. For the remainder of his time he has been working in payroll, finance and IT. Kane has enjoyed this and feels that everybody has made him feel welcome and helped him build his confidence with answering telephones and other areas of work that he did not have the confidence to do previously. He would like to explore more of the business to gain more valuable skills to put on his CV as well as see what is going on elsewhere in the business.

4 x 5 FILM

220 EPC SSO

Following a review with a service user and her family, it became apparent that she was lonely and missed the company of animals. She had owned dogs for all of her life and was sad when she moved into residential care and had to leave her dog behind. We discussed the Philosophy of Care and the possibility of having a dog at Northbourne Court.

I decided that I would look into it and spoke to service users and relatives to ensure it was what the majority wanted and that it would not be detrimental to the well being of any service users.

Having Sasha living at Northbourne Court has made a big difference to the lives of many of our service users. Some enjoy taking her for a walk in the park behind the home, with the help of a member of staff, while others enjoy making a fuss of her. If Sasha is in the garden, the service users will follow her and sit on the benches to watch her. This reinforces the statement in our Philosophy of Care that states: “We believe in the principles of an ordinary life. This should include regular contact with nature, animals and others in the community. It is these relationships that enhance our lives.”

The Vibrating Plate

220 EPC SSO

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orthbourne Court has recently welcomed two new residents with a difference: Sasha and Mikey, rescue dogs from Foal Farm.

Sasha follows us around all day and gets to see all of the service users in the home.

In Kane’s free time he enjoys photography and takes various shots from animals to landscapes. His favourite pictures to take are sunsets; you could probably catch him most of the time down on a beach somewhere waiting for a sunset.

Here are some of Kane’s photos; we hope that you enjoy them.

220 EPC SSO

PUPPY

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CARER OF THE YEAR Barton Court

amily members of a Service User at Barton Court nominated FOUR staff members for the Sue Ryder Carer of the Year Award – Beryl Richards, Operations Manager, went along to an evening reception in Maidstone to see them all receive their runners up certificate and goodie bag: Dawn Lowin Home Manager for providing a happy, bright uplifting atmosphere at Barton Court Karen Ford Team Leader who is always willing to listen and offer a kind word of support Rita Rogers Care Services Assistant with her lively, jovial personality and impromptu singing and dancing Bronwyn Allan Evening Kitchen Assistant for whom nothing is too much trouble and who is never too busy for a chat and a smile for everyone

Amanda weds

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manda, who works in the Community Support Service, recently had a special birthday as she was married at Comlogan Castle in Scotland to her partner Steve; they travelled to their ceremony in a vintage car and were piped into the castle.

Staff from head office enjoyed the start of the celebrations with Amada’s hen night, which was kindly organised

by Rachel

and Nickola from the HR Department at Head Office. They gave Amanda a severe case of paranoia as every time she went within their vicinity they would fall into fits of laughter or suddenly fall silent! Amanda was laden with gifts, including L-plates and flashing tiara which she had to wear for the evening, a good time was had by all and fortunately everyone returned in good condition to the office on Monday morning!

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Surprise Encounter with

Ben Mills from the

Second

r o t c a XF

Interview Highlight of week ahead (my time)?

Baking on Sunday

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Favourite meal?

Anything wonderful

Owl or lark?

Lark Alarm set for?

No alarm set as I wake up automatically

Se

Tea or coffee?

Espresso coffee

Evening unwind?

Glass of wine and listening to music

ervie w

Jo b titl

Favourite dinner guests?

Anyone interesting

Favourite music?

Soul Favourite holiday destination?

Singapore

nt

o rri s irector Lon don Ja cquei: M R eg io n a l D

cond I

Newspaper?

Read news online, try to be environmentally friendly Smart, casual or scruffy?

Casual Highlight of week ahead (work)?

Visiting services

Favourite hobby?

Cooking, making cup cakes Favourite film?

Chocolat, because I like Johnny Depp and chocolate Are you a cat or dog person?

Tortoise, I like to be different!

Community Carers

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aren Vince & Frances Prendegast have only been working with Avante Care and Support for a year.

They are both very committed Community Carers and are looking to further their careers with us.

They have both passed their NVQ2 in Social Care which only took them 3 months to complete as they were both committed to pass this qualification as soon as possible and have worked very hard to reach this goal.

I am proud to have the dedication and commitment of these two members of staff and will support them with further training.

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Jeanette Ponton Team Manager, Community Support

n Tuesday 10th August Holly and I arrived at the office for our first secondary school transition workshop, only to discover that it wasn’t going to happen because it was only the two of us attending that day. We had a discussion and decided we would go bowling instead. I was a bit disappointed that the workshop had to be cancelled but it was really nice to make friends with somebody new.

NVQ

2

Certificate

‘is that Ben from the X Factor?’

Stepahead enjoy the

Summer Getaway ‘The Picnic’ by Kellie When I went to the picnic, I thought it was going to be a cold day but it was well warm. I went along with my mum, Ann, and my Stepahead keyworker, Julie.

When we got there, it was well fun. Julie and I had a look around the place and we met a nice monk who lived there. He spoke to us and he was very happy and friendly.

We all had a lovely lunch together. In the ladies toilet, I found a set of keys and I handed them into the people who had lost them and they were very pleased.

There were lots of people at the picnic and the band was singing. Everyone was dancing. It was well fun.

When I arrived at the bowling alley with Louise (project worker), Tina (project worker) and Holly (young person), I had got over my disappointment and was really looking forward to the bowling. As I put on my bowling shoes I glanced up to see who was sitting next to me and was really shocked to see somebody that looked like Ben Mills from the X Factor.

Tina said ‘is that Ben from the X Factor’ and I said’ I think so’.

Maddison House

We then walked over to the bowling Lane and Tina asked me to go and ask if it was really him. But I said no because I was too embarrassed, just in case it wasn’t him. So Tina went and asked instead and I followed. The answer is YES it was really him. He was really kind and we had a photo taken with him.

I’m happy now that we had to do bowling instead of our transition workshop as we got to meet Ben Mills from the X factor.

Jade Crees Young Person Age 11

The Premier of

Locked Within Me

‘Day out at The Friars’

by Ann (Kellie’s mum)

studio mirrors to Walktall Academy on behalf of Stepahead Support.

The studio looks great.

It was a really hot day when Kellie, Julie and I went to The Friars. We stopped off on the way to get some fruit and cakes to go with our picnic. We had a fantastic picnic, far too much to eat though!

After lunch, Kellie had her face decorated with a Tinkerbell by the face painter. Kellie insisted that I had my face painted too, so we ended up looking like twins.

Kellie and I really enjoyed our day out together.

Thank you.

W

e have been busy continually striving to make our community a better place. Which is exactly what one of our ex service users, Charlie Packer, at Maddison House has been doing. Charlie received much help from a variety of people and organisations that we at Stepahead have the pleasure of working with.

Walktall Academy were kind enough to lend us brilliant

photographers Joe Fathers and Pete Spence, who did a fantastic photo shoot for Charlie Packer’s flyers, to promote her free street dance classes offered to children and young people in the local community.

Andrea Miles from Mirrors For Training generously gave Charlie Packer a fantastic opportunity to improve Walktall Academy’s studio by donating four huge, 8ft by 4ft safety backed dance

The Quinn family, whose daughters attend Charlie’s class, kindly organised the transportation of these mirrors to and from Fleet Glass in Northfleet who cut the mirrors free of charge.

How they didn’t break them, I don’t know!!

With all this community spirit going on Charlie now has over thirty five pupils in her class.

That’s not the only good news. Charlie has recently accepted a lovely one bedroom flat. So a big thank you to Gravesend Church Housing Association for making that possible.

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ll the staff at Stepahead’s Gravesend Dropin centre would like to say congratulations to one of our regular Service Users, Natalie Gaskin, for starring in the Film Premier called ‘Locked Within Me’.

This is based on issues affecting young people in today’s society at Walk Tall Academy. Natalie managed to complete this in just twelve weeks. For all her hard work Natalie was awarded a certificate in E2E performing Arts.

Natalie is nothing less than a true STAR.

15

Tell us what PRIVATE & CO NFIDENTIAL

YOU THINK!

Freepo st RSGX-HGCUBG Chief Exec HL u

The Quality Assurance Department has been busy in its drive to support all Avante Partnership services to make a difference to the lives of the people we serve.

F

ollowing the launch of Avante Partnership’s new Customer Charter in March we continue to seek to provide as many opportunities for our service users and other stakeholders as possible to give us their views of Avante Partnership’s services.

We were pleased, therefore, to produce our ‘Tell Us What You Think’ cards in May. The cards can now be found in all of our offices and services and they are issued with welcome packs and brochures. Community Support has even taken the opportunity to send cards to every service user and to many of their stakeholders.

Tel: 01795 597400 Email: enqu iries@avantep art www.avante partnership.or nership.org.uk g.uk

Tell us what you think Tel: 01795 597400 hip.org.uk Email: enquiries@avantepartners www.avantepartnership.org.uk

idea or a comment. r a compliment, a complaint, a good Your views are important to us - whethe interested in Avante in of our staff or volunteer teams or are If you use our services, work as part Chief Executive our to hand it to our local manager or post any way, please fill in this form and st). (freepo

P

E L

M A

S

Your Contact Details: (optional but Name: Address: Tel:

helpful)

Email:

Each card is addressed for the attention of Cedric Frederick, our Chief Executive, and can be completed and sent without the need to affix a stamp as Avante Partnership will pay the cost of postage though the freepost service.

The cards can be completed anonymously, but please remember that it is more difficult to resolve problems or complaints if we do not know who you are.

We are very pleased to announce that in three months 139 people have shared their views; comments; suggestions; complaints and compliments. These have come from all of our operational services.

Thank you so much to those who have taken the time to complete the cards. Everyone’s responses are invaluable to us, in that they assist us to continue to improve our services, and particularly to understand the experiences of the people who use them. We are committed to achieving our philosophy of care which says that service users should be placed at the forefront of decision making.

We look forward to your continued involvement to create excellent services.

We aim to reply within 5 working days

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If you would like to receive the next edition of Avante News by email please contact Karen Flynn, PA to the chief Executive, at kflynn@avantepartnership.org.uk