Staff matters June 15, 2018 - Issue 157 Week 50
The Afford lifestyle Promotes Healthy Living Leading a healthy lifestyle by moderating or choosing nutritious meals as well as regular exercise gets our bodies moving and gives us greater vitality and happiness. At Afford, we continuously search for ways to encourage healthy lifestyles for our Day Program clients, Supported Employees and Group Home residents to give every individual the power to be in control of their own lives.
In This Issue 1 The Afford Lifestyle
Promotes Healthy Living
2 Staff Profile Racing Into The Long Weekend Windsor’s Washing Bay
At the Butterflies Group Home, Lynette , Margaret, Scharni and Rachel incorporate healthy lifestyle planning into their weekly cooking sessions.
3 Welcome Change And Achieve Success
Supported by a Lifestyle Assistant, they go shopping for groceries every Saturday morning and purchase items according to each person’s different cooking days. They pick the fruit, vegetables and other items from the shelf and add them to their trolley. They have also learnt how to use the scanners at Nepean Square Penrith Coles; giving them greater independence to shop on their own. All ladies that live at Butterflies are involved in the day to day cooking program with minimal assistance and prepare their own healthy lunches for daily outings to their Day Program. In addition to using the groceries that they have bought, the ladies also pick herbs from their herb garden to use in cooking at dinner. All Butterflies ladies prepare the menu around their diet needs and communicate their likes and dislikes at the resident meeting held monthly. By going through this meal preparation process each week, the ladies have developed the confidence to plan ahead, budget and cook meals they enjoy. Well done Butterflies! We can’t wait to see what you dish up next!
Let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au
Change Leads To Success At The For Purpose Forum
4 Mary Kate’s Balancing Act Upcoming Events Selfie Of the Week Have a Laugh
Reminder Don’t forget to send your/clients’ achievements, good news stories and photos to Marketing@afford.com.au
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June 15, 2018 - Issue 157
Staff Profile
Racing Into the long Weekend Gregory is from Afford Mount Druitt Day Program and is known for being an avid car enthusiast. Gregory has been a car connoisseur for many years and has spent much of his life collecting rare model cars. He has an appreciation of these vehicles like no other; studying the various models and truly immersing himself in all their unique characteristics.
Sussan Browne Lifestyle Assistant Dolphin/Billabong GH Favourite Song: Anything from Sam Smith Favourite Movie: Beauty and the Beast and The Labyrinth. Favourite Hobbies: Colouring in, dancing and being silly with my kids. Favourite Foods: Italian (Lasagnia and pasta). If you could be an animal what would you be: Tigers: A lioness What is your dream holiday destination: I would love to go back to Fiji and volunteer in the community. If you had the power what would you change about the world: Poverty What is the nicest thing someone has ever done for you? Picked me up and supported me emotionally when I wasn’t mentally strong enough at that time. If you had to teach something what would you teach: Mathematics, I love working with numbers.
Recently, one of Gregory’s long time car dreams finally came true! Along with his Lifestyle Assistant, Christine, Gregory was able to go out to Eastern Creek Raceway to watch the drag races! It was an amazing day for Gregory and one that he will always remember! Afford’s dedicated Lifestyle Assistants are always looking for ways to go above and beyond to make our client’s dream and personal goals a reality. Providing new life experiences and supporting them to achieve their best is why so many people with disability are turning to Afford to support them through the NDIS.
WINDSORS WASHING BAY
Afford Windsor Day Program clients and the Windsor Team Leader rolled up their sleeves to get out the sponges and hoses for their weekly van wash! Every Thursday morning the team work together to keep their site’s vans clean. Afford have an extensive fleet of vans which are highly visible and vibrantly coloured thanks to the amazing colourful origami cranes painted all over the vehicles. Afford is a community and it is wonderful to see that our clients love being part of Afford and take pride in the way in which the Afford brand, via the vans, is presented to the wider community. Weekly car washing not only maintains exceptional presentation of the vehicles, it also encourages team work, as the clients work together scrubbing and washing away the bubbles.
Something no one knows about me? “A lot of fun was had by all clients and staff. Everyone worked together with their peers to clean the vans! We take pride in all of our vehicles and we love My biggest passion is to dance, to show them off on the roads,” said Katie Nuth, Team Leader Windsor. when I was younger (18-25) I use to entre dance competitions Great stuff Team Windsor! You are all a great inspiration for the wider Afford without any formal training. community.
let your abilities soar
www.afford.com.au
Staff matters June 15, 2018 - Issue 157
Welcome Change and Achieve Success Every Afford staff member plays a vital role in leading our organisation to success. In our leaders we cultivate a culture of strong business acumen, where communicating and adapting to and evolving to changes makes us better as a community.
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By striving for a work environment that welcomes change, growth and profit, we can ensure both exceptional quality service to clients and organic business growth. We pride ourselves in having a ‘can-do’ mentality and an approach that pushes the boundaries to tackle risk to achieve the ultimate reward. Throughout changes to the NDIS, Afford has excelled. Due to strong foundations and some of the best talent in the disability sector, we have proven that we can deliver exceptional service for our clients and even support those whose disability supports were threatened, such as the clients of our Bexley Day Program (previously WALCA clients). We are an Employer of Choice because we recognise and reward success and we do not fear change, but rather embrace it and work together as teams and tribes to be a competitive market player in the disability industry on a national scale.
Change Leads to Success at The For Purpose Forum Last week, Commercial Development Manager, Christina Emmanouel attended the For Purpose Forum at The Cerebral Palsy Alliance in Allambie Heights. As part of the forum, Christina delivered a presentation which discussed Afford’s organisational change over the past three years and how adapting to change has made the organisation stronger to grow and become a leading disability service provider. It was this adaptability which lead Afford to being announced as the National Award winner of the Voice Project’s Change Challenge Awards in the Large Business Category. At the forum, Christina accepted this award on behalf of Afford. Afford won in its category largely due to the results of the Voice Project Online Staff Survey. The results we achieved as an organisation were the highest the Voice Project has ever recorded. The Voice Project Survey is completed by thousands of companies each year, so the competition is very tough. To be judged the winner of the large business category for Australia is a huge achievement by everybody. The For Purpose Forum was attended by many service providers including organisations such as the Starlight Foundation and Cerebral Palsy Alliance. The award win is an immense achievement for Afford and one that recognises all the hard work that everyone has put into the make Afford stand out above the rest.
let your abilities soar
www.afford.com.au
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June 15, 2018 - Issue 157
Mary Kate’s Balancing Act A love of movement, stretching and finesse is what drew Mary Kate to gymnastics and she absolutely loves it! Mary Kate is a client at Afford Campbelltown Day Program who has been taking part in the gymnastics program for some time and has truly developed excellent skills doing an activity that she enjoys. The beam apparatus is one of Mary Kate’s favourites. Although Mary Kate places great focus and concentration in getting up onto and balancing on the beam herself independently, she is supported by staff to get up and assisted in balancing, and staff are also there to give her additional encouragement and guidance.
Upcoming Events Date:
Event:
1-30 June 11 - 17 June 1 -31 July 1 - 8 July 8 - 14 July 24 July
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Awareness Month International Men’s Health Week Fragile X Awareness Month NAIDOC Week National Diabetes Week Stress Down Day
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Client Amanda is taking a selfie using Snapchat filters with CV team leaders Reilene, Antoinette and Maddison
let your abilities soar www.afford.com.au
Have a laugh
Please send in your selfies or laughs