BluePrint (Jul 2022)

A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

It’s been a few months since I was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer at BlueCross. I am thrilled to take on this important leadership role and see this as a time of immense opportunity. It is a crucial time in the sector, with the recent change of Government and the upcoming aged care reforms.

We also congratulate Melanie Mazzarolli on being appointed the Chief Operating Officer and we have a new BlueCross Chair, Mr Rob Dalton. It feels like a time of change and opportunity.

The past two years managing the COVID pandemic within

BlueCross has been challenging and exhausting for all. The commitment and dedication our teams have shown in supporting our residents has been inspiring. It is important that we continue to support and advocate for our residents to live their best life despite the challenges the pandemic has presented all people living in Aged Care.

Melanie Mazzarolli, Megan Galbally, Executive General Manager People Culture and Safety, and I have been visiting residences as a follow up from our Staff Survey last year. We have enjoyed meeting people and listening to what they have to say. It has been reassuring to

hear positive feedback about our people and the improvements on food served at BlueCross.

We have also had some surprise meetings as we have toured the residences, such as Bear the cheeky pup at Baradine, which you can read about in this edition.

Over the last few months, we have also welcomed volunteers back into our residences. They have been missed and our community is already enjoying the friendships and fun times that our volunteers bring, you can read about one of our exceptional Darnlee volunteers, Christine in this edition as well.

I am committed to visit BlueCross residences every week which is very rewarding and always brings with it an element of surprise. I look forward to meeting more of you and if you see me around, please say hello.

A life changing career

All the best

Ingrid Harvey, Chief Executive Officer

Meet Loving Sobron, one of our amazing Registered Nurses at BlueCross The Mews, Camberwell. Loving has been caring for residents at The Mews for just over ten years and explains how he decided to become a nurse.

Loving was born in Mauritius, and in his teenage years, while on holiday, he broke his wrist quite badly. Loving was in a lot of pain and the whole experience was quite stressful. He was very unimpressed with the care and treatment he received and knew he could do much better. From this experience, a seed was planted in Loving’s mind, to become a nurse and provide the best care for others that he could.

When Loving finished school, he took a brave leap of faith

and moved to Melbourne on his own, in order to study nursing. At the time he was just 18 years old. However his bravery and determination have paid off as he now happily cares for older residents at BlueCross The Mews.

“This was my first job, and I have been here for ten years” he explained.

“It is great working in the Aged Care community. At this stage in their lives it’s important to help residents feel comfortable, and make sure they have a good life. It makes me feel happy.”

Loving’s personal reward from helping residents feel comfortable and happy is echoed throughout the team.

Feeling joy from connecting with residents is a common thread in great nurses and care workers. It’s also reflected in the BlueCross Starfish values, Be there and Make their day.

Loving clearly chose the right career and we can all be grateful for that, remarked BlueCross CEO Ingrid Harvey.

“His is an inspiring story, and if my daughter told me that she wanted to become a nurse, I would be extremely proud”

Ingrid Harvey, Chief Executive Officer with Registered Nurse, Loving Sobron

In Home Care, a great team counts BlueCross Recruitment Strategy

Megan Galbally, Executive General Manager, People, Culture and Safety

BlueCross as an organisation is prioritising the recruitment, engagement, and retention of our people.

The past couple of years have been the most challenging as we continue to be impacted by COVID.

BlueCross is committed to addressing workforce challenges. We are completely reviewing the way we recruit, streamlining processes and improving staff utilisation. Offering the best care possible for our residents and clients is our priority. We acknowledge that we need to attract the right people and develop and support them in this regard.

We are prioritising the selection of candidates that share our values of safety, excellence, partnership, kindness and choice.

We are investing in leadership development and providing on the job coaching within our residences to build high performing and skilled teams to role model the right behaviours so that new people joining the business, have the confidence and support they need.

We know that good people know good people so we have implemented a referral reward program which has been a hit with our current team members. We are developing an improved onboarding and induction process so when a new team member joins us, they feel immediately connected and supported.

We are reinvigorating our student placement opportunities, traineeships, and graduate programs for the right people,

to create talent pipelines for the future.

We will also be implementing a talent management program internally as we know that we have untapped talent within the organisation already. We are creating career pathways that will help us to ensure our people feel valued and supported and want to stay with BlueCross.

BlueCross believes Aged Care offers a purposeful career with many opportunities for growth and development. We want to support those who are considering work in Aged Care to make BlueCross their employer of choice.

BlueCross announces the appointment of Mr Rob Dalton as new Chair

Mr Dalton joins the Board with more than 35 years’ experience in commercial roles and transactional as well as 25 years as an Advisory and Assurance Partner in Big 4 Accounting and Consulting firms.

He also brings with him valuable experience from the sports industry as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), Sport Australia and the AIS, navigating

the enormous challenges triggered by the global pandemic.

Mr Dalton explained that ‘It’s important to me to give back to the community, and it feels like the right time to give my time and experience to BlueCross as an exceptional Aged Care provider’. The leadership team and broader BlueCross community would like to welcome Mr Dalton and thank him for his shared vision and dedication.

BlueCross Home Care Advisor, Eilyn Garcia, has recently re-joined the team at BlueCross after a few years away to continue her studies in Aged Care.

‘When the job ad popped up, I knew right away that I wanted to return and have that support once again that I had missed,” Eilyn explained.

‘The people are great, and the values of the BlueCross community are something I can really relate to. I was keen to feel the support of a good team and knew there were values I could rely on and that are important to me. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel this at other places I had worked.’

Eilyn has been part of the BlueCross team for a few months, now in a clinical role. She conducts ongoing assessments of clients, liaising with Allied Health and other practitioners as well as

families to manage and implement care plans for clients.

‘This job makes me feel awesome,” she said.- “I am the sort of person who loves to help people and I can help them improve their lives. It makes me feel like I have a purpose in my life by making a difference to theirs.’

‘For example, when I make an assessment and I realise they need more support, I can arrange the extra care and see how it has improved their life, then I am happy.’

Eilyn’s Manager, Alwyn Holt was pleased to see Eilyn re-join the team in a new position.

Alwyn understands what makes a great carer and client manager and explained that Home Care is not the same experience as residential Aged Care.

For example, she said, “people from as young as 55 can access Home Care. Their needs can range from someone who is mobile who benefits from some social support to someone who needs help five day a week with showers, food preparation and even arranging the installation of rails or other assistive equipment to keep them at home for as long as possible”.

For Alwyn, Aged Care is personal and the best advice she has received was from her grandfather who revealed that the hardest part about ageing is losing your independence.

Alwyn uses this important gem of advice to help guide her decisions in Home Care. ‘If we can help people keep their independence and maintain an active lifestyle full of choices for longer, then we are helping them age with dignity and comfort.’

Alwyn Holt & Eilyn Garcia (left to right)

Rob Dalton, Chair

Megan Galbally, Executive General Manager, PC&S

Big hearts give to Ukraine

When the Russian Army rolled into Ukrainian territories in February, the rest of the world watched in disbelief. Many of us still reeling from the lockdowns and devastation of the pandemic were rocked by the threat of war.

One-on-one with BlueCross Volunteer: Christine Heffernan

BlueCross Darnlee volunteer, Christine Heffernan, is one of our champions who, among other things, runs a reading and poetry session each Tuesday with a group of literarian residents.

What made you decide to become a volunteer?

I was retiring and I had more time on my hands. I wanted to do something that would give back to the community.

I had already been going to Darnlee for four years visiting my old neighbour. I thought if there was a job I could do at Darnlee then that would be ideal, so I offered to help with their flower delivery and it went from there.

What do you enjoy most about volunteering?

I enjoy spending time with older people. It’s a good fit for me and I am learning a lot about poetry as

well as making friends with these lovely older people.

Each week I plan the poems and books around themes. I try and make sure that the theme is relatable and inclusive, so I spend a lot of time researching how to present it to maximise participation and engagement.

After the first session I realised that this was a group not to be underestimated. I knew I had to keep raising the bar as there are some sharp residents in our crew.

One day after listening to a poet reciting his poems, I asked the group who could recite a poem off the top of their heads and almost half the group were keen to do so.

Then I tried to recite a poem ‘The Quality of Mercy’ from The Merchant of Venice and I couldn’t finish it, and then Ina finished it for

me – I thought she wasn’t listening, but she finished it.

Then I tried to recall the Charge of the Light Brigade, by Tennyson and another resident Ken finished the poem when I got stuck.

Another session we were listening to a reading of Trent Dalton’s Love Stories. We listened to a few of the chapters and then I asked ‘who would have the courage to chat to a stranger about their love story’. Ron said he would talk about his grandchildren, then he broke out into song and half the group joined him in song, another magic moment.

You never know what each day will bring. BlueCross are currently recruiting volunteers to join our community, if this sounds like you please contact us at volunteercoordinator@bluecross. com.au

Some local people of Ukrainian heritage decided to ask for help by knocking-on doors. BlueCross received a call to donate medical supplies and other items to be shipped to Ukraine. So many in the BlueCross community were keen to do what they could.

Melissa Ryley, Residence Manager at BlueCross Livingstone Gardens

explained that the word was put out for anyone who felt strongly, to support the Ukrainian people and donate to this drive.

“Residents started knitting and families brought in donations. Some residents went out and bought toys for the children, while others donated cash which we used to buy medical supplies,” she said.

Four BlueCross residences were able to collect items and money for medical supplies that were part of the first donations to Ukraine.

BlueCross Hansworth, Riverlea, The Boulevard and Livingstone Gardens were all involved.

BlueCross CEO Ingrid Harvey told us how thrilled she was with the BlueCross response.

“It’s simply encouraging to witness the compassion that binds the BlueCross community together,” she said.

“To see residents, staff and family members across four of our residences mobilise to help war affected Ukrainians is heart-warming. I want to say a big thank you to everyone involved for their efforts”.

Special thanks to Melanie Hiluta and the committee at Ukraine Crisis Appeal- a collaboration between the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, Rotary Australia World Community Service and Caritas Ukraine.

Donations Arriving to Lviv Warehouse

Willowmeade on the campaign trail Roses for Mother’s Day

BlueCross Willowmeade staff had the chance to chat about aged care with Australian Labor Party members during the election campaign in May.

Member for McEwen, Rob Mitchell, then Shadow Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services Claire O’Neill and Senator for Victoria Jana Stewart visited Willowmeade in Kilmore and spoke with Residence Manager Mandy Heather and residents about what they enjoy most about living there.Mandy offered some great insights about what it’s really like working in aged care, particularly during a pandemic. The spotlight was on Aged Care during the campaign and it was great to join the conversation.

The Lifestyle team meet-up

In May, BlueCross was able to host its first face to face Lifestyle Portfolio meeting in more than two and half years! It was a wonderful opportunity for the team to reconnect and catch- up with some familiar faces and meet new Lifestyle Coordinators.

It was also a reminder that the team are connected by where we work and what we all do and therefore we can have the confidence to share knowledge and support each other.

The team was also fortunate to enjoy two workshops hosted

by Carers Victoria on the day–Understanding the Carer and Engaging with Carers.

These workshops provided Lifestyle Coordinators with insights and understandings around carers and some practical tips on how to support them.

BlueCross Gardenia residents enjoyed a fun ‘Crafternoon’ making lovely paper roses in the lead up to Mother’s Day.

These roses will last longer than the real thing and promise to brighten up residents’ rooms.

Monterey Men’s Shed

BlueCross Monterey has its Men’s Shed back and the gents are relishing the return to the tools. Like many fun things, The Men’s Shed has been out of action for a few years but it’s now back up and running.

The first project for the Men’s Shed crew are menu boxes for all of the residents to use in the

dining rooms, and we think they’re doing a fantastic job.

Men’s Sheds can be found all over the country and are an easy way for men to meet and connect. No matter what age, the benefits of banter and company combined with the feeling of using your skills to create something useful can be very rewarding, making it

an excellent choice of activity for BlueCross Aged Care Lifestyle and Leisure programs.

Designed with engagement in mind maintaining purpose and a sense of achievement. These programs support residents to continue to live full lives.

Rob Mitchell, Claire O’Neill and Jana Stewart

PETER’S PROGRESS

Peter suffered an aneurysm some two and a half years ago. An event that not only stopped him in his tracks but changed the lives of his family. Peter was in intensive care and in a coma at The Alfred for many months, then onto the Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) rehab centre in Caulfield for six months more.

It was an extremely emotional and stressful time for everyone involved. It became clear that Peter had to move on from the Centre as they had done all they could for him at that time, but his impairment was still too much for his wife to manage at home.

‘We visited several aged care facilities in the area and ended up choosing BlueCross Karinya Grove in Sandringham,’ explained Peter’s wife Bente.

The family chose Karinya Grove because it was close to home, had a nice feel about it, lovely staff, but most of all a Physiotherapist and Occupational Therapist on site every day.

‘This was really important to us. Peter was a marathon runner and I have been a PE teacher my whole life, so getting Peter back up on his feet was a priority,” said Bente.

BlueCross Allied Health Practitioner, Luda has been there since the beginning of Peter’s journey at Karinya Grove.

‘I met Peter the day he became a permanent resident at BlueCross, while he was in his mid-60’s. At the time he required a tilted wheelchair and full hoist as he was unable to sit upright or walk,’ she said.

There was a lot of work to do but with access to expertise, hard work and patience, the team were confident they could improve Peter’s quality of life.

Peter made great progress, and Bente believes that the amazing BlueCross Allied Health team were the key reason for this.

‘They helped organise the purchase of his first wheelchair, but mostly worked with him daily and communicated with the staff to support Peter’s progress’, remarked Bente.

After working with the health professionals at Karinya Grove, Peter is now able to walk with a 4-wheel frame and can easily transfer himself in and out of Bente’s car, which means he can go home to visit his family. Peter’s recovery has also meant he doesn’t need as much medication, which has further helped his cognitive development.

‘Peter’s progress has been a source of daily celebration at Karinya Grove’, relayed local Physiotherapist Levi.

And Bente agrees, ‘it is certain to say, that without Allied Health at Karinya Grove, we wouldn’t have been where we are now. I am so appreciative for everything the team is doing here and it is so important, not just for Peter but everyone at the residence”.

Our Ivanhoe Happy Hour is all about friends coming together for an afternoon of laughter, good food, a couple of drinks and plenty of dancing.

Happy Hour at BlueCross Ivanhoe World Music Day at Highgrove

BlueCross Highgrove resident Music Group celebrated World Music Day with their multi-talented music therapist, Lucy. A variety of musical instruments were brought in by Lucy with a percussion focus for residents to play along, while she sang and played guitar. Music therapy is always a very hands-on session suited to people who want to get involved or simply listen to the band.

Music is an interactive and immersive activity giving the residents the chance to still groove to their own beat.

Peter Pederson

LADIES WHO LUNCH

A special ladies lunch was a suggested by the lovely BlueCross Livingstone Gardens residents – they wanted an opportunity to dress up a bit and have a relaxed long ‘special’ lunch with just the ladies once a month.

April was a ‘floral’ theme, and while Beef Wellington was the main course, a Rose Petal Crème Brulee was the floral themed dessert. It was a great success so we thought we would share the recipe with you.

Chefs tip

Thinking about adding edible flowers to your dessert?

Rose petals, violets, pansies, and herbaceous flowers too like sage and rosemary work best.

Marigold and Nasturtium petals are often added to salads and of course zucchini flowers stuffed with goat cheese are a classic European dish.

ROSE CRÈME BRULEE

Recipe | Serves 6

Ingredients list Method

• 640ml Thickened Cream

• 150ml Milk

• 1Tbsp Dried rose petals

• 7 Whole eggs

• 75g Castor Sugar

• 10ml Vanilla Essence

• Bring the cream, milk, rose petals and vanilla to the boil in a heavy based pot

• In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until pale and creamy

• Slowly pour the hot cream/ milk mixture onto the egg/ sugar - whisking continuously then pass mixture through a fine sieve

• Pour the mixture into small bowls or ramekins - place ramekins into a hot water bath

and cook gently at 150c for 40-45minutes until just setthe mixture will appear a bit ‘wobbly’

• Allow to cool overnight in the fridge

• For service sprinkle a fine layer of castor sugar and rose petals on top of the Crème Brulee - wipe the top edges clean and caramelise with a blow torch until a nice deep goldenbrown colour and enjoy!

THE BEAR OF BARADINE

The residents at BlueCross Baradine have been receiving regular visits from a very cheeky Bear!

Bear the dog! Bear is a one- year old Bichon-Poodle pup belonging to Baradine Residential Manager, Bob Lowther. Bob brings Bear to Baradine every day and he has been a wonderful addition to the Baradine community. Bear loves the residents and very quickly worked out who would give him treats.

From Livingstone Gardens to the Botanical Gardens

It had a been a little while since BlueCross Livingstone Gardens residents had been able to get out and about on the bus, and the Botanical Gardens felt like the perfect place for everyone to enjoy the sunshine and stretch their legs with some magical scenery and good company.

Bear will do the rounds of the rooms; he uses his nose and pushes open the door to check in on the residents.

Bear can be a bit of a treasure hunter, collecting items and wandering around with them, which is followed by laughter from the residents as they see him running through the corridors with cups, and shoes and other things that don’t really belong to him.

After his busy day of socialising and greeting visitors at the door, Bear curls up on his soft bed with his teddy for his afternoon nap. He is a lovely boy with a sweet nature that certainly brightens the day of so many at Baradine.

Thank you Bear (and Bob)!

HOW WE DO THINGS

Be there

Have fun

Make their day

Choose your attitude

For all enquiries, call 1300 133 414 Stay Connected

www.bluecross.com.au

LOVING LIFE NEVER GETS OLD

As one of Victoria’s largest aged care providers, we care for more than 2,500 residents across 32 aged care residences and over 1,000 clients living in their own homes.

RESIDENCE LOCATIONS

North/West

Avondale Heights

Glenroy

East

Box Hill

Camberwell

Caulfield

Croydon

South

Brighton

Chelsea

Cheltenham

Ivanhoe Mill Park

Northcote

Kew

Malvern East

Mooroolbark

Mt Waverley

Mordialloc Mulgrave

Oakleigh

Regional Cowes Kilmore

HOME CARE SERVICES

Preston Sunshine

Surrey Hills

Templestowe

Toorak

Vermont South

Sandringham

Government-funded and private home care services to keep you living your best you. For more details, visit www.bluecross.com.au/home-care

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Have some suggestions? Please share your thoughts with us at feedback@bluecross.com.au

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