Safety and respect culture at Hepburn House

ONE of the focuses of Hepburn House and its workforce development is to ensure there is always a culture of safety and respect.

Manager Dianne Jones said this was something the organisation was very proud of. "A young gay staff member recently informed me after years of discrimination at other workplaces, he has never been made to feel uncomfortable about his sexuality in the two years he has been here".

"A 31-bed LGBTIQA+ Allies and Friends unit, and 15-bed Memory Support unit are expected to be open in mid-November. Plans are also in place in our strategic plan/workforce development to ensure that our inclusive culture is maintained and supported.

"Hepburn House has made arrangements to partner with genU Training, a registered training organisation to complete certificates 3 and 4 in aged care on site in our large new multi-purpose room. Student placement will also be completed on site. This will further our ability to ensure the "right" staff are recruited. genU is a leader in the aged care industry and is very supportive of training that is inclusive to the LGBTIQA+ community."

genU says: “At genU, we’re not all the same. And that’s one of our greatest strengths. We draw on the differences in who we are, what we’ve experienced, and how we think. Because to live our values and to succeed in our vision, we must all be active in building inclusive communities. So, whether you're an employee, volunteer or client who accesses our services - at genU we're all about YOU."

Ms Jones said genU was planning to have LGBTIQA+ leaders and HIV specialists as guest speakers appear throughout the course to further the knowledge and training around culture and diversity.

"A current staff member who has been employed at Hepburn House for eight years as a personal care worker is currently completing a certificate 4 in training and assessment and will deliver the training."

Ms Jones said there would be advertising for staff in magazines such as The Star Observer in October to November to attract LGBTIQA+ aged care advocates to join Hepburn House. Hepburn House has also purchased five apartments that can support staff who have an interest in relocating from Melbourne. The prospective staff will be offered accommodation for four weeks rent-free. More details: www.hepburnhouse.com.au or 5348 8100. Advertorial

Cleaning up the climbers

Last issue I covered the winter pruning and tidying up of bush roses and, obviously those tall-stemmed standard ones. This time, we’ll have a look at your rampant climbers and naturally assume they are growing on a trellis or fence for support.

The pruning and management of climbing roses is a different matter altogether because they produce two entirely different forms of growth.

The first is the vigorous, long canes that usually grow in summer and autumn, often without any sign of a bloom. These canes form the initial framework of the plants and as many as possible should be tied in a convenient horizontal position before you resort to cutting any of them out.

The other growths are the shorter flowering spurs that shoot out all along the climbing cane during the following spring. These give the main display and should be cut down to about half their length after each flowering.

Some roses only flower in the spring, especially such climbers as Paul’s Scarlet and the white and yellow banksias. These are pruned after flowering by shortening back the flowering growths and removing any worn-out branches. Any new long canes that appear should be tied into place.

Hygiene

It is more than likely that the cold and wet weather will encourage the spread of fungus and such virus diseases as blackspot and rust so it’s important to minimise any chances of transmitting them from plant to plant on the secateurs or saw blades. The solution is to dip the tools in some form of household disinfectant before moving on to the next plant.

Those seemingly ever-present pests, aphids and spider mites, are in the old bark, leaves and soil around the plants in winter, so it’s imperative to foil them by clearing any fallen foliage and branches from around the plants. If you wish to discourage any intended attacks on the new growth, spray the plants with one of the many available non-toxic organic pesticides such as Neem Oil to give the new growth a healthy start.

A rose by any other name

As if about 300 species and literally thousands, and growing, varieties of the rosacea tribe, isn’t enough to be labelled rose, there are scores of other plants with similar dog rose-like blooms, lining up for the title. Take, for example, the cistus and even our native bauera rubioides.

Admittedly, most of them are beautiful in their own way and fully deserve their place in any garden, but it can be confusing if you don’t also have that botanical name to distinguish them.

And so we come to the beautiful specimen pictured above. Its botanical name is helleborus orientalis, one of the many beautiful samples of what are called either winter or lenten rose, depending on where you live and I suppose whether the flowering season coincides with the celebration of Easter.

The title helleborus covers a vast number of both evergreen and deciduous perennial clump-forming flowering plants of the ranunculus tribe that originated mainly in Greece and Turkey.

Their greatest attribute is that their flowering is at their best in the midst of winter when the rest of the garden is asleep and they provide some welcome colour to those dreary winter days.

Helleborus orientalis, the most popularly grown evergreen species varieties, grow to around 50cm high, about 60cm wide, and do well in our temperate climate. They prefer deep, well-drained soil but will adapt to most soil types except wet clay. They thrive in light shade. To keep them growing and happy, feed them with a light dressing of a balanced, complete fertiliser in late autumn.