Nellie's Notes Winter 2020

Inside this edition

Meet Premila and Ebbie

Nellie’s Notes

Year of the Nurse Puzzles, books and more!

Greenfingers!

Residents help to create a woodland wonderland at the village.

NELLIE MELBA RETIREMENT VILLAGE

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WINTER 2020

Greetings from Mark Hello, and welcome to the winter edition of Nellie’s Notes.

We have had interesting times here at the village. We were not long into 2020 when we needed to reset the way we operated in the face of COVID-19.

A great team effort followed involving residents, families and staff to build our safe haven.

We are proud of our efforts and grateful for the support we have received from so many people given the immense global uncertainty regarding the pandemic.

Please continue to be patient as we cautiously navigate the situation in the coming weeks and months. We look forward to the opening of ‘Violetta’ with new independent living apartments soon.

In spring additional care centre rooms and serviced apartments will be added.

We trust there will be many more good times to look forward to.

Serviced apartment available now

A note from Morag & Amanda Our vibrant Nellie Melba community is showing our resilience by continuing to enjoy exercise classes, home delivered Happy Hours and neighbourly chats.

We will continue to use interactive technology to keep you connected.

We can arrange a personal appointment to bring our village to life in your own home. Our village, pool, café and facilities are a delight to enjoy, then visit our show apartment and we’ll bring the coffee! We can’t wait to hear from you, please call should you need any help or simply a chat.

As sales advisors we’re here to help in any way we can, and to help you plan your next move.

Kind regards,

Mark

Mark Owens Village Manager 03 8513 1900

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Morag

Amanda

Morag Davidson & Amanda Brocklebank Sales Advisors 03 8513 1930

VILLAGE NEWS

Ryman residents show their appreciation Hundreds of Ryman residents have shown thanks to the teams who looked after them through lockdown with a barrage of cards, compliments, cupcakes, chocolate, music and applause.

Residents at Bruce McLaren village gathered on their balconies in the early days of the Level 4 lockdown in March to spontaneously clap the team on the ground below.

In Melbourne, Nellie Melba Village residents flooded onto their balconies with thank you signs and applause.

Edmund Hillary’s team was rewarded with a chocolate shout organised by residents, while the team at Rita Angus was shouted pizza by one grateful family.

At Margaret Stoddart, one resident decided to serenade the team as a thank you, much to the surprise of village manager Merrin Jack.

“I must confess that it was a pretty magic moment, and my eyes may have leaked a bit.

It gave me that reminder that this is what we are here for,” Merrin says.

“

It gave me that reminder that this is what we are here for...

The accolades flew in by card and email as well. And it is no surprise given the huge amount of work our teams did to keep everyone safe and happy.

Nellie Melba resident Rosie Clough.

During lockdown the village teams delivered 80,000 Happy Hour in a Bag parcels, 10,000 Bidfood orders and thousands of other newsletters and parcels.

As well as keeping their residents safe, our care teams helped connect thousands of residents with their families over Zoom, with more than 8,000 calls made.

The IT team rolled out Zoom to more than 3,800 Microsoft Surfaces and delivered 70 additional devices to serviced apartment residents to help them keep in touch.

The Ryman office teams supported residents with hundreds of welfare calls, special magazines and producing regular updates to keep everyone in touch.

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WRITTEN BY DR DOUG WILSON

Why the AIDS tragedy should give us hope The situation we find ourselves in today with COVID-19 took my mind back 30 years, to a time when the world was grappling with a new and frightening virus that – for the moment – had us all stumped.

The first time mainstream medical doctors learned of AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) was in 1981, in New York City and San Francisco when small groups of gay men with unusual infections and cancers appeared.

Almost all the patients died of serious infections. Their immunity was severely depressed.

For a few years the only treatments were directed at their serious infections, not at the heart of the disease itself the virus which was destroying their immune system.

That was unknown.

Three or so years later Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV 1985, had been identified and there were tests to measure blood levels.

From that stage multiple existing drugs were investigated whether they might defeat HIV. The first, AZT, was a cancer drug that blunted the reproduction of the virus. While it wasn’t a cure, it did slow the infection rate in 1987. Over the next few years a number of new anti-HIV drugs were developed, mostly from scratch, targeted against the virus.

These were not easy developments. I was involved in mid 1990s with one drug, which worked brilliantly for a few days, tearing the virus levels down to be almost undetectable.

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But HIV was no ordinary target, it mutated rapidly, and after a few weeks the virus reappeared, at this stage resistant to the drug.

Subsequently patients with HIV infection were treated with multiple drugs, which profoundly reduced the risk of mutations which produced resistant versions of the virus. Dr Tony Fauci from NIH in the USA, as today, was the prime leader in the fight.

Over the years 50 million people have been affected by HIV.

“

After a few weeks the virus reappeared...

Over the years science began to understand HIV, and build ammunition against it.

The public health directions were complex, until the modes of transmission had been firmly identified.

Today, with modern drugs, HIV is a chronic disease which can be managed adequately without too much shortening of life.

What a difference 30 years makes! We have come a long way.

COVID-19 was identified as the illness within a few weeks – not years.

Its genetic sequence was identified and shared less than a month after first clinical diagnosis. Within another month, after tens of thousands of individuals had been infected in China, clinical description of the disease had been defined, and the older

population and those with other chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes were clearly designated high risk.

The path forward is to develop a vaccine against coronavirus, and currently there are over 100 vaccine agents in development.

Almost certainly this will be successful commercially within 12 to 18 months.

The tragedy for HIV, given the particular biological nature of that virus, is that there is still no effective vaccine, and all control depends on the anti-viral drugs.

“

COVID-19 was identified as the illness within a few weeks – not years.

For coronavirus there are multiple drugs which might be repurposed as effective anti-viral agents and these are in different stages of testing.

There are plenty of patients which makes the task easier. With the assistance of artificial intelligence, entirely new drugs are already being designed.

With this form of virus it is almost certain that a vaccine will be effective. In the interim some anti-viral agents are likely to be identified to hold the fort. Lockdown is an effective path to aborting the infection.

Whereas patients affected with coronavirus exhibit a fatality rate of 1% to 2% for HIV,

About Dr Doug Dr Doug Wilson is a physician, medical academic, writer and is a consultant to Ryman Healthcare.

For the past 30 years he has monitored the scientific literature as it relates to ageing, and the conditions that may interrupt your enjoyment of that process. His background as a physician, a scientist, and a developer of new drugs, he’s well placed to distil clear messages from the huge forests of data that exist and confuse.

Doug’s aim is to cut through the fads and fallacies to concentrate on the core issues and the physiological and psychological reasons behind them.

Armed with this information, we can plan for our older years to be golden years, not tarnished, confused or stressed years.

before treatment, the death rate was heading towards 50%.

The world of today is a healthier place than the HIV world of 20 to 30 years ago.

Which should give us all a degree of hope in the weeks and months ahead.

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RESIDENT PROFILE

Meet Premila and Ebbie Brito Premila and Ebbie Brito say like all good things village life is getting better and better with time.

The couple were among the first residents to move into the village when it opened in 2018.

“Someone up in the heavens must love us for us to end up here,” Premila says.

“It is a very happy place, and morale is particularly high at the moment because the management is so good and caring, and they provided us with so much to do during COVID-19.”

The couple say life at the village has been “wonderful” from the start.

“Our daughter lives on one side of the village, the shopping centre is on the other, it is well serviced by buses, our church is next door and our old home is within walking distance, so we had the good fortune of not having to change locality,” Premila says.

“Same doctor, same dentist and our former neighbours even come and visit, and we go for walks together.

“It’s wonderful.”

Ebbie says they never miss an opportunity to show friends around the village.

“All our friends that come here they just feel sorry that they are too young to put their names down,” he laughs.

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“

Someone up in the heavens must love us for us to end up here

They only wish the village had opened sooner, he says.

“Because getting old is not an option, and the security and care that we get here is exceptional. We are no longer stressed with the challenges of ageing because we feel confident that Ryman Healthcare will provide us active support.”

BOOK REVIEW

Travels with Epicurus: A journey to a Greek Island in Search of an Authentic Old Age Written by Daniel Klein This is a worthwhile and entertaining read for those who like batting around the ideas of philosophers in search of the answer to that key question for all of us oldies ‘How do I figure out the most satisfying way to live this late stage of life’.

On holiday alone in Hydra, where the old people had struck him as always being uncommonly content with their lives, Klein found himself to be in a most satisfying place to consider this question.

By day this American philosopher studied the many philosophy books he had taken with him, a favorite being the Ancient Greek, Epicurus. By night he enjoyed the company of some local old men in a tavern.

At the time of writing he was 73. Klein tussled with the ‘forever young’ principle which underlies many people’s reaction in our day to aging. He used medical/dental issues as cases in point; breast implants, dental implants, testosterone replacement, Cialis or Viagra. Should one use such measures?

Epicurus’ answer, after many years of thought, was that the best possible life one could live is a happy one filled with pleasure.

The modern usage of ‘epicurean’ to mean ‘extreme sensualism with gourmet appetites is a corruption of Epicurus’ preference for simple meals. Epicurus thought that the enjoyment of a meal depended on whom one dined with rather than what one ate.

He further considered that companionship should be that of enjoying a person’s company without getting anything from them.

He also believed that one should in late life free oneself from the poisons of everyday life, like commerce and politics; and scale down to enjoy the leisurely pleasures of old age. With this Klein would have us agree.

Reviewed by Bob Smith, Rita Angus Retirement Village

“Life’s too short to read bad books.”

Katherine, resident at Ryman Healthcare’s Charles Upham village.

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International Year of the Nurse Before COVID-19 illustrated the huge importance of the world’s nurses, 2020 was already set to be a year to champion nursing.

In 2019 the World Health Organisation designated 2020 International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.

The year-long campaign aims to recognise the work of nurses and midwives, advocate for improved investment in the workforce and acknowledge the challenging conditions in which many in the professions work.

2020 also marks the bicentenary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

Ryman Healthcare Chief Operations Officer Cheyne Chalmers said Ryman thanked hundreds of nurses with a morning tea on International Nurses Day (May 12) and other events would be held through the year.

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A Ryman Healthcare Nurse of the Year Award was also introduced this year, and the winner would be announced at the Ryman Awards ceremony.

The year offered an opportunity for the sector to highlight the “really special” work aged care nurses do, Cheyne said.

“The Registered Nurse working in aged care gets to work to their full scope of practice, and it is incredibly important that we have really skilled, knowledgeable nurses.

“You are working with people for a long period of time. You get to nurse a resident for the rest of their life, which could be six months, or could be six years.

“You build these awesome relationships and work at the very top of your practice.”

Pictured: The care team at Nellie Melba Retirement Village

Pat Lilleyman Nellie Melba resident What made you decide to become a nurse?

I was an immigrant from England, and my father wanted us all to be farmers’ wives and I thought ‘I’m not going to be a farmer’s wife, I’m going to go nursing’.

“

Our nurses should feel absolutely proud of the work they do.

Cheyne said Ryman’s nurses were the backbone of the company’s ‘good enough for Mum’ (or Dad) ethos.

“One of the things I am incredibly proud of is the Ryman Healthcare ethos, we are incredibly professional, our values are very strong, and our nurses lead that.”

The ability of Ryman nurses to impact the lives of residents and their families could not be underestimated, she said.

“Our residents and their families tell us every day how safe they feel and what a great job we are doing, so our nurses should feel absolutely proud of the work they do.”

What do you think of the way nurses around the world have responded to COVID-19?

I think they are magnificent, the way they have put their lives on the line.

I like to think I would have done that.

Wendy Gacayan Registered Nurse at Weary Dunlop Retirement Village What made you decide to become a nurse?

I grew up with my grandmothers, and there was an incident where my grandmother had tetanus and we lived in a remote area, and she passed away within two days.

I feel if the healthcare providers had a better understanding of how to care for people it would have been a better result.

What has COVID-19 taught you about nursing?

That we are there for residents as a companion, as a friend, as someone to talk to when they need to as much as for all the other practical care.

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Puzzles Pour a hot drink and find a cosy spot in the sun to tackle these brain teasers.

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© The1995 Puzzle Company S.F.Shuker

© The1995 Puzzle Company S.F.Shuker

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S.F.Shuker © The1995 Puzzle Company

S.F.Shuker © The1995 Puzzle Company

© The1995 Puzzle Company S.F.Shuker

S.F.Shuker © The1995 Puzzle Company

S.F.Shuker © The1995 Puzzle Company

S.F.Shuker © The1995 Puzzle Company

S.F.Shuker © The1995 Puzzle Company

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13.

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12.

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9

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Gingerbread Cookies Winter can be cold and miserable but it is also the perfect time for baking!

We asked Hilary Freeth, our marketing executive, for her favourite gingerbread cookie recipe so that you can create your own midwinter Christmas treats!

Why not rope in the grandchildren for a wonderful afternoon of baking?

Gingerbread • 2 cups flour • ½ tsp baking soda • 1 tbsp ground ginger • 1 tbsp cinnamon • 1 cup soft brown sugar • 150g butter • 1 egg, beaten • 1 tbsp golden syrup Icing • 1 egg white • 1 ½ cups icing sugar • 1 tsp lemon juice

Makes 36 Method • Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the butter and rub in with fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

• Add the egg and golden syrup then stir until it forms a dough.

If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour.

• Take half of your dough and form a smooth ball. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until it’s around 5mm thick. Cut out shapes using biscuit cutters and place on trays. Form leftover dough into a ball and repeat the process until all of your cookies are cut out.

• Bake at 180ºC for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

• Make icing by beating the egg white with a fork until it’s frothy. Add in the remaining ingredients and stir. For a coloured icing, simply add a couple of drops of food colouring! Use the icing to attach lollies. Yum!

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VILLAGE NEWS

Woodland wonderland for residents A quiet corner at the front of Nellie Melba has been transformed into a grassy woodland following the planting of more than 2000 native plants by residents and staff.

The Muyan ‘destination’ garden, in the corner of Collegium Ave and Brandon Park Drive, was officially opened during National Reconciliation Week (27 May-3 June).

John Flynn village manager, Roslyn Prentice, who was based at Nellie Melba while that village is being built, said Muyan is the Wurundjeri name for the silver wattle plant.

“This tree has special meaning to the indigenous populations – many parts of the tree can be used, it keeps the community strong, alive and healthy just as the elders do with their wisdom and experience,” she said.

nesting boxes, and logs and stones to encourage lizards.

Nellie Melba resident Harry Sherrard, who previously worked as a gardener, said about 10 residents and staff worked “very hard” for five days to create the space.

“The benefits will be really seen when the plants start to grow and thrive,” Harry said.

“Actually, I’ve noticed too that there are a lot of lorikeets in the nearby oak trees so hopefully it isn’t long before they start to inhabit the new garden.”

The Muyan garden will be maintained by village residents and staff.

Above: Resident Harry Sherrard.

The garden is home to more than 20 species of native plants, with bird and possum

2 Collegium Ave, Wheelers Hill | nelliemelbavillage.com.au