We would like to begin by extending our warmest greetings. We hope you had a wonderful summer! A lot has happened since our last newsletter.

We would like to extend a very warm welcome to our new residents. We are truly enjoying getting to know families and friends as they settle in and become an important part of our home. We remain committed to supporting and encouraging families who wish to visit to be actively involved in their loved ones’ support.

We are excited to be underway with our year’s activities programme. Poor weather has made van trips a little trickier lately, but we look forward to more trips around the bays and visits to interesting and scenic places in the Miramar area, and of course, stops for fresh air and ice cream! We have been keeping busy with homely pursuits such as baking, helping with daily tasks, and making cups of tea! We are enjoying sing-alongs, chair exercises, arts and crafts, pampering sessions, and reminiscing with old photographs. On warmer days, we have enjoyed having afternoon tea outside, or taking a stroll together. We had our first visit from Carolyn, who shared her beautiful harp playing with us during a therapy session. Harp therapy can lower stress and anxiety, improve mood and help with relaxation.

We are grateful for our regular volunteers. Our lovely pianist, Joanne, who comes every Saturday, continues to bring joy to our residents with her music. Additionally, the group of Whakaahuru singers visits every fourth Tuesday of the month, delighting everyone with their beautiful voices. We also enjoy other live entertainment twice a month, featuring musical performances with instruments. We had a visit from Canine Friends (pet therapy), for the first time this week. Kia brought Darla to spend time with us. Darla is so sweet and we loved every moment of her visit. Kia and Darla will come every Tuesday - we can’t wait for their next visit!

David from Vitae visits weekly to meet with our staff team. These regular catch-ups help ensure that our team members feel supported, well, and able to work comfortably with their roles.

We look forward to working together with you over the year. We are one team with the shared goal of ensuring your loved one feels happy, valued, and cared for.

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 and 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 Sylvon

We are happy to share that Millvale House Miramar has started sponsoring Sylvon through Tearfund and Compassion International. Sylvon is a one year old boy who lives in the Philippines. He enjoys clapping his hands along to rhythms.

Our sponsorship will provide Sylvon 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 Sylvon’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 Sylvon with a little information about him. Take a look if you are interested.

Our sponsorship of Sylvon 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 Moment from Millvale House Miramar

One of our residents was taking great pride in arranging the lounge furniture, carefully placing the chairs and tables. Once he was done, he wrote down and signed his name, even adding the title “Home Manager.” It was a special moment that shows his sense of purpose and pride in his home. It felt truly magical.