Over summer, we hope you were able to relax and enjoy some of the warm sunny days that we had here in Blenheim. We made the most of the summer season, enjoying strolls around our garden, and along the street to take in the fresh air and observe the nature surrounding us.

A lot has happened since our last newsletter! A highlight was the Salvation Army Band visiting and playing for us one morning in our carpark. The residents came out to enjoy a wonderful time listening to the band play all the Christmas Carols. It was such a hot day! We enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea for our Christmas family gathering. Thank you for coming along and helping to make this a special time for us all.

We continue to enjoy pet therapy with special visits from Annie with her dog Oscar, Jo with Arku, Chris comes with Pip, and Robyn with Circe. The residents really love the visits and enjoy their special moments with the dogs.

We had a ball creating window displays and cutting out hearts for Valentines Day. The ladies got dressed up and some chose to wear a little makeup for the day.  We enjoyed doing some arts and crafts and listening to love songs. It was wonderful to have a little extra love around our home for the day.

Our church services started back again in February. The residents are enjoying these very much. We’ve also had a few birthdays to celebrate in our home recently. We love putting up the birthday decorations and showing our residents how much we appreciate them on their special day.

Finally, we have been very fortunate to have Sheeja step into the role of Clinical Manager here at Aberleigh. It's great to have her on board!

As the air becomes crisper and the leaves are golden underfoot, we hope that you have been able to embrace the shorter, cooler days that autumn brings.

“And all at once summer collapsed into fall.” Oscar Wilde

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 Roda

We are happy to share that Aberleigh has started sponsoring Roda through Tearfund and Compassion International. Roda is a thirteen year old girl who lives in the Philippines and loves art, reading and singing. 

Our sponsorship will provide Roda 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 Roda’s progress as she grows, and our activities team is looking forward to involving residents in writing supportive and encouraging letters to her as she gets older.  In your loved one's home, you will find a photograph of Roda with a bit of information about her. Take a look if you are interested.

Our sponsorship of Roda 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 resident was having a bad day, but I managed to help him feel better. He wanted me to read to him, which is one of his favourite things to do! So I read to him. At the end he said I brought a whole lot of sunshine to a very dull day!

I went to Kowhai for their afternoon activity. One of the residents was very happy because she remembered that I take them for wheelchair walks outside. She said, “Oh the lady is back, we will go for a ride!”