News/Events

Aged care services have received a significant boost in the southern region of Adelaide through Federal Government funding to Life Care for an extra 93 high and low care beds.

The funding, allocated by the Department for Health and Ageing, will result in new care facilities and services at Life Care’s Aldinga Beach Court and Reynella Lodge.

Life Care’s Chief Executive Officer, Allen Candy, said today 17 high care and 18 low care beds would be created at Aldinga Beach Court with 29 high care and 29 low care beds at Reynella Lodge.

He said Life Care planned a $15 million redevelopment of Reynella Lodge and $8 million expansion of Aldinga Beach Court to accommodate the new aged care services.

“Construction work will start as soon as possible with the intention of having the new beds and services coming on stream later this year,” Mr Candy said.

The new developments at Aldinga Beach and Reynella will represent a 23 per cent increase in Life Care’s residential care services.

“Over the next five years, Life Care will initiate major redevelopments across its five residential care sites, including Glen Osmond, Joslin and Everard Park, representing new capital works investment of around $80 million,” Mr Candy said.

“This is in line with our commitment as a not-for-profit aged care provider to invest in meeting the increasing needs of our ageing population,” Mr Candy said.

“The new Federal Government funding recognises Life Care’s quality of services and it is good news for people in need of high and low care accommodation in the southern region, along with their families.

“Life Care’s investment to accommodate the new bed licences and associated services will also generate significant new employment opportunities, particularly for people in the southern suburbs.”

 

The Adelaide Football Club has highlighted the importance of its special partnership with Life Care.

Stephen Trigg, the club’s Chief Executive Officer, recently visited Roselin Court to share a casual breakfast with residents, staff and volunteers. This followed visits to each of Life Care’s residential facilities by Crows players during the 2011 season.

After chatting with residents and signing autographs, Stephen explained how the club greatly valued its relationship with Life Care. He said while the player visits had generated excitement in the Life Care community, it had also been a “thrill” for the young stars of the game and their club.

Roselin Court Residential Care Manager Debs Muldoon with Stephen Trigg and residents from various sites.

More than 100 different staff members nominated their workmates for awards in the categories of Project Management, Innovation, Customer Service Excellence, Team Member Excellence and Leadership. More than 30 finalists were in the running for the awards. Winners and runners-up were:

Project Management – Lorraine Gubbins and Kelly Davis of Roselin Court (People Point Project) and Lorraine Hocking, Corporate Services.

Innovation – Meredith Gibson of Reynella Lodge (coloured tray project) and Alison Tymmons, Aldinga Beach Court.

Customer Service Excellence – Wendy Charleston of Parkrose Village (outstanding commitment to lifestyle programs) Sylvia Whidbourne, Roselin Court and Carol Lewis, Community Lifestyle Centre;

Team Member Excellence – Jackie Molloy of Glenrose Court (consistent team commitment) and Eleanor Chiew, Norman House.

Leadership – Bev Jolly of Roselin Court (passionate commitment to quality care) and Tina Falcon- Harvie, Glenrose Court.

From the five winners, one was chosen for the Life Care Way Award recognising an employee who has best implemented the Life Care Way philosophy in their daily work. This award went to Bev Jolly, who works across a number of roles in hotel services consistently contributing to a happy and productive environment for colleagues and best outcomes for residents and their families.

Kelly Davis, Bev Jolly, Lorraine Gubbins, Jackie Molloy, Meredith Gibson and Wendy Charleson

“Tonight we are here to celebrate a tremendous group of people who work together to make Life Care one of Adelaide’s premier aged care providers. “

With those words, Allen Candy welcomed staff members to Life Care’s inaugural annual awards night at the Entertainment Centre and encouraged everyone to “have a really good time. “

More than 300 Life Care members did so with gusto as our commitment to Live Every Day extended into a memorable evening in which we all cheered individual excellence and teamwork in outstanding aged care.

Staff members were also honoured for reaching service milestones including Sharon Richardson (Parkrose Village), Desma Panagopoulos (Glenrose Court) and Karyn Heinicke (Glenrose Court) for 20 years, and Julie Munro (Reynella Lodge) and Sherrie McLean (Glenrose Court) for 25 years.

 

Informative. Inspiring. Rewarding. Fun. These four words have resonated across Life Care in recent weeks through staff participation in the Life Care Way workshops.

Group presentations have been held across various sites involving every employee to focus on the meaning of the Life Care Way and the expectations we have of each other in delivering excellence in aged care.

Led by presenter-facilitators Tanya Perry and Stewart Mitchell, staff members were engaged in 25 group sessions. Members of Life Care’s leadership group participated in each session and CEO, Allen Candy, personally attended 13.

The presentations encouraged participants to analyse Life Care’s values, vision and mission and the role they play in delivering quality care on a daily basis as individuals and members of teams.

Derek Dittrich, Sandy Teigesser, Puniti Chawla, Sharon Quinn, Anmolpreet Kaur and Alex Jefferies

Life Care has received Federal Government funding to develop a pioneering support project for individuals living with younger onset dementia and their families.

The unique Side By Side project, operated through Life Care’s Norman House respite program, was recently launched by Mark Butler, the Federal Minister for Mental Health and Ageing.

The Side By Side project is a partnership between Life Care and the Federal Government with support from Alzheimer’s Australia and Bunnings.

It works by allowing people with younger onset dementia to spend time in a working environment and to meaningfully interact with others in everyday activities while allowing their regular carers to have some much-needed respite.

Rebekah Ryan, Anna Frost, Carmine Mercurio,
Sonia Yeates, Terry Daly and Peter Salotti

Jenny Potter, Allen Candy, Minister Mark Butler
and Jacinta Robertson