Tidings December 2013

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Dece mber 2013 swancare resident newsletter Across My Desk CEO’s Report As we enter the festive season, I see evidence of the spirit of friendship and community across our Community as many of our clubs and groups enjoy their respective Christmas and end of year celebrations. One of the advantages of being a large Community is the diversity of the social and recreational choices that our residents themselves over the years have introduced. We have exceptional talent and commitment within our residents, whether it be here at Bentley or down south at Australind, and this directly contributes to the wonderful lifestyle for which we are renowned.

Our Volunteers are Special People As is our tradition, during the first week of December each year we celebrate International Volunteers Day by acknowledging the extraordinary efforts of our many Volunteers. This year we held a Frank Sinatra – 50’s styled theme “Buffet Luncheon”, to say “THANK-YOU” to our very special people. In marking this day, I wish to convey my personal thanks to all of our volunteers who go about their business throughout the year making Bentley Park a better place to live. There are so many different roles that our volunteers are engaged in with each person bringing their individual talent, skill and commitment to their work. A number of studies have measured the value to the Australian economy of the time volunteers

give doing a wide variety of volunteer jobs. Of course, it is not monetary reward that volunteers are seeking but the desire to contribute to their community. We appreciate that the services provided by this special group of people are essential to a non-profit organisation such as SwanCare Group and we acknowledge with gratitude the work they do. To us, they are TRULY SPECIAL PEOPLE.

Paying Tribute to Our Long Serving Staff A continuing tradition at SwanCare Group is to also recognise exceptional lengths of service amongst our staff. Around this time each year we recognise those staff who have achieved 10, 20, and yes, even 30 years’ service to our organisation. In a challenging work environment and with the transient nature of today’s modern workforce it is truly an amazing achievement that we can celebrate and recognise service periods of such great length. We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice in the aged care sector, we want to make our employees feel proud of working for SwanCare Group and we try to ensure that they are continually acknowledged and appreciated for their hard work and commitment. When I see lengths of service such as this I get a sense of validation that we must be doing things right. This year we acknowledged the following staff members with 10 years service, Jasmine Henderson, Sam Gandhi, Sui Kor, Richard Holloway and Mavis Theyagarajah all from Residential Care. With 20 years of service we paid tribute to Valerie Hutson, Coral Williamson, Elaine Johnson, Marian Evans and Leonie Haywood, again all these staff work in our Residential Care Centres. Then, to top it all off we then acknowledged a fabulous 30 year milestone achieved by Elizabeth Ward. Liz is an extremely dedicated and passionate employee, who is a true night owl having completed her length of service as a night shift personal carer.

Security Number

Administration

If the Resident Support Services number is unavailable residents are reminded the mobile contact number for Security is:

International Volunteers Day Buffet Lunch - 5th December

0413 388 650

Bentley Park Social Club Cambridge Community Musicians - 14th Dec

I spoke to Liz at the award presentation and whilst she was quietly confident that she will make 35 years service, she indicated that 40 years might be a bit of a stretch.

Centenarians at SwanCare Group Live For Free within our Independent Communities An exciting new initiative that we will be introducing to kick start the New Year is the innovative concept that any resident living independently within our communities at either Bentley or Australind, who is 100 years old, can LIVE FOR FREE. We believe that this is a first for the Retirement Living sector, and we are proud to say that SwanCare Group is leading the way with this wonderful acknowledgement to the centenarians who have achieved this milestone. We believe that this is a nice little incentive and recognition to the individual that they have achieved a wonderful milestone, and the last thing that they need to be worried about at this age and stage of their life is to have to pay for their accommodation. It is our small way of giving back. There is a bit of fine print, and conditions do apply but essentially the Live for Free concept is ready to launch in 2014.

AGM’s At the end of October we held the traditional AGM for SwanCare Group. The AGM amongst many other things is the time when we elect our Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Board, and I am pleased to announce that Julian Keys, and Robin Watts have both been re-elected unopposed for a further term of one year. Under Julian and Robin’s direction SwanCare Group has enjoyed one of the most successful years in its long history, and we look forward to continued success into 2014 and beyond. Continued Page 3

Inside this issue > Village News - pg 4 Bentley Park Social Club - pg 5 What’s On - pg 6 & 7 Australind Rise News - pg 9 Club News - pg 10-11


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