Sadly, summer has come to an end. We had some great days that were nice and hot… and others that were a bit cool and wet. Our air conditioning coped well, keeping us all a pleasant temperature throughout our variable summer.

In February, a small group of residents headed to the city to attend the Art Deco Weekend. They enjoyed the amazing sights and watched vintage cars as they drove around the city. It was lovely to see the Hawkes Bay school students having a picnic along Marine Parade, all dressed in 1920s costume. What a splendid occasion.

We are excited that our first wing is now pretty full. We continue to have viewings, and a waitlist has been started for the part of the building that is still being worked on.  The renovations are coming along really well, and we were excited to see the external cladding go on a few weeks ago.

We recently celebrated a couple of birthdays. Birthdays are always the perfect occasion for us to honour our residents and to make them feel special. It is a privilege to be able to spend this time with them.

Finally, it has been great to welcome our Clinical Manager, Angela back from maternity leave and we have loved meeting her gorgeous wee girl. 

We wish you all the very best as we head into the cooler months. Fingers crossed we get a few more warm days!

It has been a busy start to the year across the aged care sector. You may have heard about the MediMap outage – MediMap is the electronic medication management system which is used in our rest homes and across many aged care and healthcare services in New Zealand.

MediMap identified unauthorised activity within its system that resulted in some resident demographic information (such as name, date of birth, prescriber details or location of care) being incorrectly modified.

Importantly, we have been advised that there is currently no evidence that medication charts or medication administration records have been altered.

All of our rest homes are now back up and running using MediMap. In the meantime our staff have done a great job of implementing our offline systems. The MediMap outage gave us a good opportunity to review these systems and ensure they are fit for purpose if something like this happens again.

I’ve recently travelled around the country visiting many of our rest homes.

One of the things I enjoy most about this is meeting our new staff. I run a Vision and Values training session with each new staff member in group sessions. In these groups we talk about our families, where home is and what home feels like for each of us. We reflect on what makes our home feel like a home.

While the physical spaces we call home are often quite different, we find that the qualities that create a homely feel are quite similar. It is a space where everyone feels comfortable to be their true self, to express themselves and to be understood by loved ones.

We want our rest homes to feel like home for our residents, you our residents’ families, and our staff teams. That means that we want everyone to be comfortable in this space and we need to get to know one another in a meaningful way. This takes time, and it is something our staff teams work extremely hard on.

We very much appreciate your input into this; whether sharing information about your loved one and how they lived, participating in every day life around the home or letting us know when we haven’t quite got it right.

You can read through our Vision and Values here.

Ngā mihi

Andrew Sheard, Managing Director

You may occasionally see members of our clinical leadership team visiting your home. I’m Arah, National Clinical and Quality Lead, and I’m joined by our Regional Clinical Managers, Ranjit and Jenish, who support teams across our homes. Soumy also provides regional clinical support specifically for Aberleigh.

Our role is to work alongside Clinical Managers and Registered Nurses, offering guidance and support, strengthening clinical practice, and helping ensure the care we provide continues to reflect the kindness, respect, and genuine connection that matter so much to us all. Visits help us stay closely connected with residents, whānau, and the everyday life of each home.

I spend time with Ranjit and Jenish most days. We discuss resident issues that arise, sharing ideas and brainstorming solutions together. This means that I am well apprised of the things that are happening in the residents' home, the risks and the more challenging situations, and also the wonderful things that occur.

If you spot Jenish or Ranjit during a visit, please feel welcome to say hello. They always enjoy meeting families.

Arah Cartagena, National Clinical and Quality Lead

Introducing Calix

We are happy to share that Millvale House Napier has started sponsoring Calix through Tearfund and Compassion International. Calix is a one year old boy who lives in the Philippines. He loves listening to stories.

Our sponsorship will provide Calix with:

• Educational support and vocational training
• Character and confidence building opportunities
• A safe place to learn, play and grow
• Regular medical checkups and immunisations
• Nutritional support to treat and prevent malnutrition
• Emergency support in times of disaster and crisis
• A loving community and healthy relationships

We are excited to hear about Calix’s progress as he grows, and our activities team is looking forward to involving residents in writing supportive and encouraging letters to him as he gets older.  In your loved one's home, you will find a photograph of Calix with a blurb about him. Take a look if you are interested.

Our sponsorship of Calix through Tearfund sits comfortably alongside our support of New Zealand children through Pillars Ka Pou Whakahou. Pillars is a New Zealand charity that actively supports the tamariki and whānau of people in prison or those serving a community-based sentence.

Tearfund is a non-profit organisation working for a just and compassionate world. If you would like further information, please visit their website: www.tearfund.org.nz

Jim Haines, Director DCNZ

Magic Moments

A family member noticed that one of our residents was listening to jazz music and playing his air piano, tapping along to the music. Our resident noticed that she was watching and invited her over to watch him play. It was a special moment for both of them.