Nellie's Notes Summer 2018

Nellie’s notes Nellie Melba Retirement Village • Summ mer edition 2018

Bowls champion Commonwealth Games medalist Barrie Lester showed us his moves

Our first residents!

Construction update

Meet Anne & Stephen

A note from Bronwyn Hello and welcome to Nellie’s Notes, we are officially up and running!

After years of design, planning, community engagement and construction, the village welcomed its first residents at the beginning of August.

With more than 35 people – and two beautiful dachshunds! - now living under one roof, the Nellie Melba community is beginning to blossom.

Soon after the first residents arrived, we started holding weekly social events at the village, and it’s wonderful to see friendships already forming as everyone enjoys a drink together.

Ryman management, the sales team and village staff have worked tirelessly to make residents’ move-in experience as seamless as possible.

Opening a new village while much of it is still under construction comes with huge logistical challenges, and I’m so thankful for all their great work.

As the number of residents increases, our Nellie Melba team is expanding to ensure village life continues to run smoothly.

We all feel like we’re at the start of something special, and we are so excited to watch our village community grow and develop in the coming weeks and months.

Kind regards

Bronwyn Village Manager

Bowls champion!

Commonwealth Games medallist Barrie Lester put residents and friends of the village through their paces during an intensive lawn bowls coaching clinic. Barrie shared his wealth of knowledge acquired during his years of representing Australia on the world stage.

Dale and Michelle

Bronwyn Fox Village Manager Ph: 8513 1900 Call Bronwyn for general enquiries, or any information about low care, high care and specialist dementia care.

Dale Singleton & Michelle Shaw Sales Advisors Ph: 8513 1930 Talk to Dale or Michelle for more information about independent and serviced apartments.

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Nellie’s first residents happily socialise to forge a busy, buzzing community You can hear it in the smiling chatter at Nellie Melba’s Thursday evening Happy Hour: friendships are forming, a community is coming together and, just two months after the first residents moved in.

More than 45 people now call the village home, and weekly social events and morning teas are helping residents get to know each other better.

Among the Nellie Melba “pioneers” enjoying drinks and nibble at a recent event is Elaine Waterworth, who moved into the village with her husband, Peter, about five weeks earlier.

“I think having the morning teas and Happy Hours is a good idea because you do get to know people,” Elaine says, raising her voice to be heard above the chatter.

“We’ve had a few people in for coffee, and we’ve been to other people’s places, which is good.

“We’re keen to get to know people – they’re all very friendly and lovely.”

Robin Bray has been in the village with his wife, Rosemary, for only a couple of weeks but “from day one we felt like we were home”.

He was particularly impressed with how easy Ryman helped them make the transition from their old home to the new Nellie Melba apartment.

And with the big move now comfortably behind them, he and Rosemary are looking forward to immersing themselves in village life.

“I think it’s a great place. Everyone’s very friendly and wanting to make new friends – it’s great.”

Village Manager Bronwyn Fox says: “Our pioneering residents have settled in well and have already formed a happy and welcoming community.

“Our gatherings are characterised by the buzz of conversation and much laughter as residents become more familiar with one another and our small team of staff.”

Above: Residents (left to right) Ellen Smoorenburg, Peter Waterworth, and Max Beattie.

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An update from our Construction team They might have people living on site now, but workers building Nellie Melba retirement village are still charging on towards completion of the project.

“Our most important resource is our people, so ensuring they are working in a safe environment trumps everything else.

More than 35 residents have moved into the completed section of Building 2, with the other section due to be finished and welcoming new residents in November.

“We will do the job right, and to the very highest quality standards, but our primary concern is always to make sure that everyone who arrives at work gets home again safe and sound when it’s time to knock off.”

The fit off and finishing of the basement, ground floor and first floor of Building 1, which will house the village centre, care centre and serviced apartments, has begun. The building is scheduled for completion in early 2019.

“We were actually pretty lucky in winter in terms of the amount of time lost to heavy rain, but it’s certainly nice to now have a bit warmer weather to work in,” Project Manager Travis Cocks says.

When complete, the village will be home to around 650 people and include aged care rooms, serviced apartments and independent one-, twoand three-bedroomed apartments.

Amenities will include an indoor swimming pool, movie theatre, café, hair and beauty salons and a bowling green.

While construction is progressing well, he says completing the work safely is always the top priority.

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Ryman chefs take top prize At the recent New Zealand Hospitality Awards, our in-house Chefs; Steve Iraia and Paul Korunic, took the top two prizes.

also pleased to go one better than last year.

“We’ve got the two top positions in the country, which is a brilliant result.’’

Steve has been the chef at Princess Alexandra village in Napier for 10 years. He was named the winner in the senior lifestyle section.

Steve and Paul had 75 minutes to cook meals for eight people consisting of four hoki loin dishes and four dishes featuring beef cheeks.

Steve came second in last year’s competition.

Ryman Hotel Services Manager Andrew Gibson said he was proud of the chefs, as the dishes they prepared had to be practical and suitable for Ryman menus.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic, it was a bit like taking care of some unfinished business.”

Village chefs serve up more than 10,000 meals a day to our residents.

Chefs prepare the food fresh on-site, with three main course choices, including a vegetarian option.

Both Steve and Paul’s classic recipes feature in Ryman Delicious menus.

Paul, Chef at Anthony Wilding village in Christchurch for the last four years, was

Celebrating a lifetime of achievements Acting legend George Henare – soon to hit the stage at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – has been honoured by his fellow actors and Ryman Healthcare with an Equity Lifetime Achievement Award.

George has been touring Australia since 2016 playing Sultan in Disney’s hit musical theatre production Aladdin.

In a distinguished career spanning 50 years, George has been seen on stage, film, and television, and heard on radio and talking books.

On stage George has played everyone from Ratty, Dracula and Snoopy to Lear, Lenin and Caesar. On screen, his extensive resume spans 70s TV landmark The Governor, and 90s classic Once Were Warriors.

Ryman Healthcare Chief Executive Gordon MacLeod said George “It makes us excited about had what’s brought possible, and where huge pleasure we can take it next.” to audiences over many decades.

“George is an acting treasure and we’re absolutely delighted to be able to support this award for him. He thoroughly deserves it and the recognition it brings for his stellar career.’’

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Resident Profile

Meet Anne & Stephen

We’re home now.

Yes, we’re home.

Anne Thek’s journey to Nellie Melba retirement village started with a vow to stay in her family home “forever and a day.”

It ended with an audible “wow!” as she and her husband, Stephen, walked into their beautiful, sun-drenched two-bedroom apartment in August.

Stephen was a believer from the beginning.

“We do a bit of caravanning and we had a fivebedroom house - two storey - with a reasonablesized garden,” he says.

“If we were going away you had to worry about the garden, you’ve got to come back and clean all that up.

“It was sort of getting a bit of a hassle with all of that, so I started thinking a retirement village would be good.”

But then Anne interjects: “I wasn’t thinking like that. Not at that time.”

“I didn’t like the idea of living in a retirement village,” she says, gesturing to the large corner apartment she’s now sitting in.

“I was quite happy where I was. When we moved in there that’s where I was going to stay forever and a day.”

As Stephen started making serious inquiries about the village Ryman Healthcare planned to build in Brandon Park – only about 1000 metres from their home of 48 years – Anne’s mind was beginning to open to the idea.

“Gradually I realised this is a big house to clean – even though you don’t use it you still have to clean it. And I used to do the garden and I used to be able to do the back garden and front garden all in the one day.

“I got to the point where I could do one [garden] one day and the other the other day and I thought, ‘No, it’s not going to get any easier’. I’ll let him take me along for a bit [to look at the village] and see how we go.”

Ask Anne how she feels about the decision to move into Nellie Melba now and her scepticism is replaced by a broad smile.

“Rapt. Yeah, best decision. Rapt. That day when we walked in here [we thought], ‘We’re here at last’ and we just went ‘Wow!’ when we came in.

“We’re home now, yes, we’re home.

“This is home now.”

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Ryman – a big winner at Monash Business Awards Ryman Healthcare won big at the Monash Business Awards. Not only did the company win the Health Category but Ryman Healthcare was also announced as the overall business of the year.

The awards, presented at a gala dinner at the Huntingdale Golf Club in July, recognised the best business in the City of Monash across a range of categories.

The Ryman Australia team were all present to celebrate this achievement.

Above: Ryman’s Melbourne staff celebrates after being named Business of the Year at the Monash Business Awards with Monash Business Awards Chair Rebecca Paterson (in front, second from left) and Monash Mayor Cr Paul Klisar (at the back on the right).

Right: Ryman Community Relations Team Leader,Denise Thompson was delighted with the award.

Staff Profile

Meet Joshua O’Neal

It’s all about the safety and wellbeing of residents and staff.

Joshua O’Neal isn’t a big sleeper, which is just as well.

The recently-appointed night porter at the village, who describes himself as “a bit of an insomniac”, works from midnight to 8am most work days.

Upcoming events October

October

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25

Falls prevention talk with Chelsea Richdale

Don McQueen Bush Balladeer

There’s one resident who is still adjusting to life without her late husband, so she stops by to see Joshua for chat at least once a night.

November

November

“It’s nice to have people value what you do – that makes the job rewarding, when people take comfort in talking to you and recognising that we’re there to help.”

Welcome morning tea for new residents

The role is part security guard, part problem solver. If a resident locks themselves out of their apartment, Joshua is there to help. If something looks suspicious, he checks it out. It’s all about the safety and wellbeing of residents and staff.

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22 An afternoon with Grand Pacific Tours

Having spent more than 12 years in different security roles, including at hotels, events and for Armaguard, Joshua says he’s enjoying the new environment at Ryman Healthcare.

“It’s a very good role, everyone supports each other, everybody cares. They act like the company’s core values and that’s rare.

“There are a lot of companies that say one thing and do another.”

2 Collegium Ave, Wheelers Hill

www.nelliemelbavillage.com.au