Staff Matters May 22, 2020 Issue 258 Week 47
CARING ABOUT OUR STAFF AFFORD CELEBRATING GLOBAL ACCESSIBILITY DAY
In This Issue
Global Accessibility Awareness Day (Thursday, 21st May 2020) is a day which aims to raise awareness about inclusive digital access for people with disability. At Afford we have a ‘can do’ attitude, which means we never say NO! We always work out a solution, especially when It comes to supporting our clients to achieve their goals for work, home and life.
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Assistive digital technologies play an important role in supporting individuals to achieve their goals.
Afford Celebrating Global Accessibility Day Afford Trivia Ask Our CEO
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It is exciting to see our allied health team have been trialling assistive technologies for skills development.
Beenleigh’s Piccasso Artistic Makeover Staff Profile
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One of our Queensland clients, who has cerebral palsy has difficulty reading and understanding written words. Breaking down words into syllables and decoding the sounds of letters can cause daily frustration. But despite this she is determined to achieve her goal of studying childcare at University.
8 Tips For Working From Home Reminder
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Share Your Compliments Via Email Handyman Timetable Selfies of the Week Upcoming Events Trivia Answer
Afford’s Allied Health team connected Courtney with Queensland speech pathologist, Kimberley. Over the past few months, Kimberley has supported Courtney to develop her literacy skills and she now has the confidence to write letters to her mum. Working towards her goal of university study, Kimberley now supports Courtney for reading and comprehension. Recently she found assistive technology, called Orcam, to help Courtney understand printed and online texts. Orcam is a micro-computer that reads text aloud. The Orcam device easily attaches to the side of her glasses. To use the device, she looks at the page and runs her finger under the words she wants read. Orcam recognises her fingernail, takes a photo of the text above and reads it aloud. This was a game changer for Courtney and has improved her ability to read and learn It’s amazing to see our teams using technology to improve our services and supports for our clients.
If I work for multiple employers will I recieve the JobKeeper payment from all of them? No. Every employee is only able to receive one payment from their primary employer.
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Staff Matters
STAFF PROFILE NAME: Montanee Haidley POSITION: Lifestyle Assistant LOCATION: Southport Day Program, QLD FAVOURITE MUSIC/SONG? Norah Jones FAVOURITE MOVIE? Comedy or true story FAVOURITE HOBBIES? Practising Zita FAVOURITE FOODS? Not too spicy but tasty IF YOU COULD BE AN ANIMAL, WHAT WOULD YOU BE? A dog WHAT IS YOUR DREAM HOLIDAY DESTINATION? North Pole IF YOU HAD THE POWER, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT THE WORLD? Make people love themselves and each other IF YOU HAD TO TEACH SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD YOU TEACH? How to live life simply
May 22, 2020 Issue 258
BEENLEIGH’S PICCASSO ARTISTIC MAKEOVER
Wenfang Li (Lily) has worked for Afford for just over a year, at our Beenleigh Day Program as a Lifestyle Assistant. She has always been a creative person and had a love for art. When she realised that many of our clients also have a spark for creativity, she saw an opportunity to showcase and share her artwork at the Day Program! Lily has been painting for over 30 years, since she was 10 years old, creating beautiful works of art. She was born in China and taught herself how to paint. When Lily was a child, she mainly used water colours as it was cheaper, but after moving to Australia in 2008, she found her love for oil paintings. Since starting at our Beenleigh Day Program over 12 months ago, Lily has transformed many of the walls into incredible pieces of art. She has painted an entire wall dedicated to the movie Finding Nemo and with an ‘Under the Sea’ theme. It features ‘Bruce’ the shark, ‘Nemo’ and ‘Dory’, a treasure chest and lots of colourful fish and coral. The site also has a painting of an Australian and world map. There are also images of the Australian Flag, Aboriginal Flag, Torres Strait Islander and New Zealand Flags, to represent the diverse cultures at our day programs. With the help of Beenleigh clients, a monkey wall feature was also painted, encouraging each client to paint their own ‘monkey’ to represent themselves in a fun way. We love to see our sites get creative and make the space their own. Your sites are yours to create a fun and inviting place for our clients, and this is one way you can do it! Lily is working on a new piece of art at the site and we can’t wait to see what she creates next!
SOMETHING NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT ME? Nothing
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May 22, 2020 Issue 258
Staff Matters 8 TIPS FOR WORKING FROM HOME
Working from home, love it or hate, for some of us, it has become our new normal. We don’t know how long we may have to do it, so follow these 12 tips to set yourself up for success. 1. Get started early When working at home, the transition from your pillow to your computer can be difficult. Use the time you would usually be travelling to work, to go for a brisk walk. Even a short 15 minute walk around the block will wake your mind up and get the blood flowing. 2. Pretend like you are going into the office When working from home, do all the things you’d do to prepare for the office. Set your alarm, make (or go get) coffee and wear nice clothes. 3. Choose a dedicated work space Rather than cooping yourself up in your room or on the couch - spaces that are associated with leisure time, dedicate a specific room or surface in your home to work. 4. Focus There’s an expression out there that says, “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” The bizarre but true rule of productivity is that the busier you are, the more you’ll actually do. If you’re in motion, you’ll stay in motion. If you’re at rest, you’ll stay at rest. 5. Plan out what you’ll be working on ahead of time It’s important to let your agenda change if you need it to, but it’s equally as important to commit to an agenda that outlines every assignment before you begin. 6. Communicate expectations with anyone who will be home with you Of course, you might be working from home but still have “company.” Make sure any roommates, siblings, parents and spouses respect your space during work hours. 7. Take clear breaks It can be so easy to get distracted working from home that you avoid breaks altogether. Don’t let the guilt of working in the building you sleep in prevent you from taking five to relax. 8. Interact with other humans Remember: You’re working from home, not the moon. Interacting with other people during the day is allowed, use Face Time or Zoom. 8. Pick a definitive starting and finishing time each day You might be under the impression that working from home establishes more work-life balance, but be careful with that assumption. You can get so caught up in your activity, in a relaxing environment, that you lose complete track of time
Reminder! Staff please be reminded about the importance of social distancing while we out with our clients in the community or in a vehicle. • In a HiAce van there should only be max of 2 staff and 3 clients. • In an iMAX there should only be max of 1 staff and 3 clients. • Standard car there should only be max 1 staff and 1 client.
Help stop the spread and keep safe Affordians!
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May 22, 2020 Issue 258
Staff Matters SHARE YOUR COMPLIMENTS VIA EMAIL In celebration of the great work our staff do, we thought it would be a good idea to share all the amazing feedback and compliments that many of us receive every day. A simple compliment can really make someone’s day. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to point out how great you are doing, for you to realise how much you are appreciated. Afford staff provide award winning services and supports, we want to make sure you know about all the positive feedback we regularly receive. We have established a new email address where ALL compliments are to be sent so we can share your successes! Compliments can be from anyone, a competitor, carer, member of the community or even a fellow staff member. If you have any positive feedback to share please email compliments@afford.com.au.
“I’ve never known a centre and staff as caring and understanding as the Afford Staff. Thankyou, I can sleep at night.” Beverley, Southport Mum.
Handyman Timetable Meet Our Handyman Tahier
Our Handy Man, Tahier, will be at the following sites this week: - Monday 25th May:
Lakemba & Guildford
- Tuesday 26th May:
South Windsor & Bligh Park
- Wednesday 27th May: Condell Park & Chipping Norton - Thursday 28th May:
Sunshine, Panthers & Bluebird
- Friday 29th May:
Weekly catch up & urgent requests
SELFIES OF THE WEEK
special famous Selfie Above: A ery to Steven liv de ll sausage ro m Chef Lourdes! Herald, CEO fro
Pawsome Se lfie Above: LSA, Chant Blacktown el year old Bur le Murray with her 13 mese boy.
UPCOMING EVENTS DATE:
EVENT:
19th - 25th May
Spinal Health Week
25th May
National Sorry Day
30th May
World MS Day
1-31st May
Mindful May
A: 48
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