As the weather starts to cool, we look back and reminisce about those long, warm summer days. To help residents to stay cool, we enjoyed outdoor activities in shady garden areas, with our residents relaxing in the breeze. Refreshing milkshakes were added to the menu on hot days too - the residents loved them!

The summer garden thrived, with strawberries, lemongrass and tomatoes growing beautifully. Residents and staff enjoyed observing the lifecycle of monarch butterflies in our garden - a truly special experience. We celebrated Valentine's Day with a lovely high tea in the garden!

We have recently taken van outings around the local beaches and gardens. The residents involved had a great time enjoying the fresh air and beautiful scenery.

Life in our home continues to be filled with meaningful activities and moments of joy. Some of the residents’ most loved activities have been our food tasting sessions, community baking and the church services which we have started up again. This year, our Snakes and Ladders team introduced an exciting upgrade: a monthly champion! This friendly competition has added extra excitement for residents and their families.

Our entertainment schedule has now shifted from weekends to weekdays. On a fortnightly basis, we are delighted to have Neville Barrie performing for us. Neville brings wonderful music, smiles, and plenty of dance moves which brighten everyone's day!

Since our last newsletter, we also held our Christmas family gathering. We were delighted that this time, even more families attended! Everyone enjoyed the celebration and one family member shared how welcome and valued they felt in our home. They explained that they not only felt included here but they felt spoilt with love. This is such lovely feedback for our entire team.

We are proud of our two caregivers who recently passed their examination to become New Zealand Registered Nurses. Sharlet has joined our Registered Nurse team and Dennis has become a Registered Nurse at another home within our organisation - Aberleigh in Blenheim. We extend a very warm welcome to our two new Home Assistants, Chloe and Ana.

We are excited about the progression of our new and refurbished building.

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.

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 Jhay

We are happy to share that Admatha has started sponsoring Jhay through Tearfund and Compassion International. Jhay is a three year old boy who lives in the Philippines. He lives with his Mum and Dad and three brothers.

Our sponsorship will provide Jhay 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 Jhay’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 Jhay with a bit of information about him. Take a look if you are interested.

Our sponsorship of Jhay 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

During one of our reminiscing times together, one of the residents saw a photo of an elephant, she pointed to it and said, “I have had a ride on an elephant. My mum took us to the zoo when we were young.” It was special to share a memory which was obviously precious to her.

Our recent van outing to New Brighton was more than just a trip to the beach. It became a special moment of connection as one of our residents took centre stage, proudly sharing memories of his life and the many achievements he has contributed within the community.