Staff matters March 29, 2018 - Issue 146 Week 36
Lurnea Lifestyle Centre Gets Sustainable
In This Issue 1 Lurnea Lifestyle Centre Gets Sustainable
2 Staff Profile Jessica Finds a Way to Communicate End of FTB Year
3 Lurnea Lifestyle Centre Sustainability (continued)
4 Therapy Brings Out The Best Selfie Of the Week Thanks to a grant from Liverpool City Council, Afford Lurnea Lifestyle Centre has received $5,000 to put towards sustainable practices within the Centre. To educate clients about what sustainable living really means, a Sustainability Program has been established at Lurnea Lifestyle Centre. Clients are so excited to learn about sustainable living - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - up-cycling, and growing their own vegetables and herbs. Clients have been very busy transforming what was over grown shrubs and bushes and weeds into beautiful gardens. As part of the program, a recycling system has been introduced across the Centre so that clients can now collect their drink containers and also utilise the Woolworths Return and Earn scheme. Clients collect containers, sort them into what can be returned and what goes into the recycle bin for kerb side pick-up, and then return containers to receive cash for the return. (continued on page 3)
Let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au
Have a Laugh
Reminder Don’t forget to send your/clients’ achievements, good news stories and photos to CELEBRATE@afford.com.au
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March 29, 2018 - Issue 146
Staff Profile
Jessica Finds a Way to Communicate Jessica Humphrey is a client at Afford Jamisontown Lifestyle Centre who found communication challenging... until now! Now, using an app on her iPad, Jessica has the ability to effectively communicate with Afford staff and her peers. She is able to say ‘Good Morning’ by selecting the correct tab along with the staff member or one of her peers.
Grant Williams Team Leader Nowra Group Homes Favourite Song: American Pie – Don Mclean Favourite Movie: Forrest Gump Favourite Hobbies: Furniture upcycling, gardening and landscaping, and ocean swimming Foods: Thai, seafood If you could be an animal what would you be: Eagle What is your dream holiday destination: Borneo If you had the power what would you change about the world: I would give every person the ability to listen to what others say What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you:? My wife gave me a couple of kids If you had to teach something what would you teach: Swimming Something no one knows about me: I love Dolly Parton
With a keen sense of humour, Jessica also uses her new communication tool to jokingly tell her friend, David, not to touch her wheelchair. Jessica shows her pride in being able to talk to others through her iPad. It is so heart warming to see Jessica able to communicate. It provides positive hope for the possibilities of this type of technology to enhance the life of clients, such as Jessica, now and into the future.
End of Fringe Tax Benefits (FTB) Year All Afford salary packaging cardholders will be able to purchase a prepaid MasterCard, known as an FBT Card. Cardholders will receive a unique link that will allow them to purchase FBT Card/s for their exact AccessPay card balance(s). Each card can hold up to $2,000 of either General Living Expenses or Entertainment Benefits funds. This solution costs $9.95 per card and allows employees an additional 12 months to spend their salary packaging funds without it reducing their annual cap for the 2018/2019 Fringe Benefits Tax year (1 April to 31 March). Card balances that rollover to 1 April will be included in employees’ annual salary packaging cap for the 2018/19 Fringe Benefits Tax year. This will result in reduced tax savings for employees. AccessPay is actively communicating with all employees with an account and/or salary packaging card balance to ensure they spend their funds prior to the end of the FBT year. For more information visit www.accesspay.com.au/ endofyear/ or contact AccessPay on 1300 133 697.
let your abilities soar
P EM
OF
LOYER
CHOICE
www.afford.com.au
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March 29, 2018 - Issue 146
Lurnea Lifestyle Centre Sustainability (continued from page 1...)
Thanks to a grant from Liverpool City Council, Afford Lurnea Lifestyle Centre has received $5,000 to put towards sustainable practices within the Centre. To educate clients about what sustainable living really means, a Sustainability Program has been established at Lurnea Lifestyle Centre. Clients are so excited to learn about sustainable living - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle up-cycling, and growing their own vegetables and herbs. Clients have been very busy transforming what was over grown shrubs and bushes and weeds into beautiful gardens. As part of the program, a recycling system has been introduced across the Centre so that clients can now collect their drink containers and also utilise the Woolworths Return and Earn scheme. Clients collect containers, sort them into what can be returned and what goes into the recycle bin for kerb side pick-up, and then return containers to receive cash for the return. After a slow start to the program, it is now thriving at Lurnea Lifestyle Centre with more clients learning about the value of recycling and the benefits to the environment. There is even a group of participants who have become ‘Champion Recyclers’! Some of the participants have said they have even started to collect their containers at home to recycle. Thanks to the grant provided by Liverpool City Council, the Centre has been able to purchase a rain water tank which enables the clients to learn about water as a valuable resource for watering gardens. It also provides opportunities to discuss ways not to waste water (turning of the tap when brushing your teeth, etc) and the best times of day to water the gardens. Compost bins have also been purchased as well as a worm farm to be able to recycle food scraps and turn it into beautiful compost and worm juice which the garden absolutely loves. Participants of the Sustainability Program at Lurnea Lifestyle Centre have learnt so much through weekly sessions with ‘The Veggie Lady’, otherwise known as Toni.
let your abilities soar
www.afford.com.au
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March 29, 2018 - Issue 146
Therapy Brings Out The Best For the past eight months, Speech and Language Pathologist, Linda Redpath, has been working in Afford’s Allied Health Team to provide specialised support for clients across the South West and Far West Afford Lifestyle Centres. Her colleague, Audrey Falvey, provides support across the Central West and Inner West Afford Lifestyle Centres. As a Speech Language Pathologist, Linda provides individual and group therapies for clients on a referral basis. Linda visits clients at their Lifestyle Centre or residence for an assessment and then tailors therapies to suit their individual needs to increase their participation and enjoyment across day program, home, work and community settings. The therapies Linda provides can provide support for correcting speech for greater understanding; language and understanding using visual supports; increasing communicative skills to make requests, choices, comment, participate, etc; develop social skills to maintain eye contact, understand turn taking, body language, topics of conversation, and friendships; and to ensure clients have safe swallowing behaviours. Linda works with clients, but also works with their families and carers and Afford staff, to make small changes in the way they all interact to encourage a whole communicative learning environment throughout the day. Recently, Linda has been working with Scott at Afford’s Windsor Lifestyle Centre. He is very quiet and has been characterised as non-verbal. He is often found sitting on the ground by himself with a key chain or yo-yo to have his visual sensory needs met. Following a positive 1:1 therapy session with Linda one morning, Scott joined the music therapy program and sat in the middle of the floor with his yo-yo as he normally would. During the music program Scott was encouraged to “get up and sing” and, surprisingly, without any hesitation Scott participated in music therapy for the first time and and vocalised into the microphone for an entire song. At the end he even gave the music therapist a high five! Well done Scott! We look forward to hearing further success stories from the Allied Health Team!
fieweek l e
Have a laugh
S the of
Canley Vale Buzz Night being enjoyed by all at St. John’s Bowling Club
let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au
Please send in your selfies or laughs