Summer 2020 Newsletter Merry Christmas a Message from the CEO
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Volume 28 Issue 06 Emergency on call ph. 0448 472 007 Summer 2020 Newsletter Merry Christmas A message from the CEO It is hard to believe it is Christmas time Headway has recently completed a new already. It has certainly been a year of firsts strategic plan for 2020 to 2023 and you can for all at Headway. find this on our website on our ‘About Us’ This year has been very challenging for page. all and I would like to pass on my thanks I am also proud to say that due to continued to everyone involved in Headway for growth and demand for our services, our continuing to deliver high-quality services Newborough office is on the move. You can during some very difficult times. find them at 219 Princess Drive, Morwell As we approach Christmas, I wanted to after December 21. wrap up the year with a big thanks to those I wish everyone a very special Christmas. I who continue to provide us with inspirational hope you get time to relax, spend time with stories on our Facebook page. Keep them family and friends and reflect on the year coming, they are fantastic. that was. This year we welcomed many new faces to our team and made many changes and Jenelle Henry continued to build on our strengths. Chief Executive Officer The hard work of Headway personnel came to the ultimate test on 7 and 8 December as we undertook our first audit under the NDIS. Inside this newsletter I am proud to say Headway came away with no major or minor non-conformances. • Christmas at Headway This is a spectacular effort and continues • COVID-19 information to reinforce our determination to build the • Headway news best service possible. Thank-you to all • Quiz those in receipt of services in speaking • Puzzles and activities to the auditors and providing us with your • Winners of Baw Baw Buddies' art wonderful feedback. recreation challenge C hristmas at Headway Office closure Please note, if your timesheet is not The Headway office will be closed for received, you will not be paid until the next Christmas from Thursday 24 December at time the office is up and running. A late 4pm. timesheet cannot be accepted as there is simply no one able to perform this task It will reopen on Monday 4 January at outside of these times. 9am. Christmas party Because of COVID-19 there will be Stay in touch in no large-scale Christmas party this year. the summer Timesheets Let the Headway community know what you are up to. We love to For the pay period, 14 to 27 December, hear from you! this is payable on Tuesday 29 Send in photos of how you December. have been spending your Timesheets for this pay period need to time. Or send in artwork, be received by 10am on Wednesday 23 poems or other activities you wish to December. They will then be processed share. Email on Thursday 24 December. The system [email protected] will generate the banking of these funds Anne can print your photos in the into your account on Wednesday 30 next newsletter and post them on the December. Facebook page. All staff are to include any work that Thank-you to everyone who has is likely to be performed from 24 to 27 shared photos so far. It is wonderful to December. Any changes or adjustments hear about the many exciting things will be made in the following pay run you have been doing. when the office is reopen. 2 Headway Gippsland COVID-19 information C A summary Where to go hr ay • Wash your hands with soap online for is w often. tmas at Head COVID-19 • Cough and sneeze into a information tissue or your elbow and wash your hands afterwards. • For the most recent information about coronavirus visit the DHHS • Greet people with a wave, website: rather than hugging. dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus • Remember to stay 1.5 metres away from people you don't • Visit the Headway Gippsland for live with. relevant updates: headwaygippsland.org.au • You need to wear a face mask at the supermarket and in • For recent coronavirus shopping centres. information from the NDIS: • Remember to carry a mask ndis.gov.au/coronavirus/latest- with you when you leave the advice-ndis house, unless you have an exemption. • Meeting up with people outdoors in the fresh air is Coronavirus hotline safer than being inside. ph. 1800 675 398 COVIDSafe app h your ha as nd The COVIDSafe app is part of the W s Australian government's work to slow the spread of COVID-19. Downloading the app is voluntary but it is something you can do to protect yourself and others. health.gov.au/resources/ apps-and-tools/covidsafe- app with soap Summer 2020/2021 newsletter 3 Headway News The team moves to Morwell Staff at Headway's Newborough office are preparing to move to a new office in Morwell. As the organisation grows, Headway has needed to find a larger office space to house the team. From Monday 21 December, the head office will be at 219 Princes Drive, Morwell. The phone contact details will remain the same for now. The new office is meant to accommodate the future growth of the organisation and A 2019 staff photo from the front its spacious meeting room will offer more steps at the Newborough office. opportunities for training sessions. The new office has a spacious Inside the new Morwell office. meeting room. Many celebrated the contribution of Jo Jones and Heather volunteer John Gatt in the new office. Hoogzaad. 4 Headway Gippsland Tanya White will be the new coordinator of the Morwell group. Here she is with Heather Hughes. Glenn Kimm is retiring after serving as social support coordinator since 1999. Tasty sandwiches on the menu. Farewell to a friendly face Much-loved Headway employee Glenn including recently-retired John Gatt and Kimm is retiring after more than 20 years as assistant coordinator Amparo Miller. a social support group coordinator. “We work as a team. We’re always listening In 1999, Glenn started at the Drouin group to each other and we listen to the group, before moving across to Morwell where what they want,” Amparo said. he has remained as coordinator until his A trip to Tasmania in 2003 is a standout retirement. memory to Glenn of his time as coordinator, His last day was Wednesday 16 December including various camps, themed days and where both the Morwell and Warragul combined Christmas lunches. groups merged for a celebration in the new “I’ve had so many memorable times. Those office space on Princes Drive, Morwell. memories will stick with me until the day I “I’ve made a lot of friendships at Headway. die,” Glenn said. They’re more than participants, they’re Headway operations manager Wendy friends,” Glenn said. Matthews said Glenn’s departure would “It’s been a pleasure and I looked forward leave a “huge hole” in the organisation. to going to the group on Fridays and Glenn is looking forward to building a new Wednesdays. It was like a social thing for house next year, heading north for a holiday me too.” and spending more time with his partner Glenn wished to thank Headway for its Dianne. support, in particular, Dianne Mumford Headway welcomes Tanya White as the and all the volunteers he has worked with, new coordinator. Summer 2020/2021 newsletter 5 Sarah hits the road Headway’s Anne Simmons visited South visit from then-prime Coaster Sarah Waardenburg only days minister Harold Holt. before she was planning to head off on a “I was in his car driving trip into the Aussie bush. around and around in Sarah Waardenburg’s easel standing in the the backseat because he middle of her South Gippsland home was about was there opening up the little to be a key possession packed into her caravan kiddies splash pool,” she said. for a long journey ahead. As a Koori woman, she intends to spend “A lot of times when I’m going somewhere, I put time with Indigenous people across Australia, the easel up and paint,” Sarah said. learning languages and eating bush tucker. “I want to go to Uluru. I want to paint that.” “Kangaroo … it’s the best meat out,” she said. Her plan is to revisit places from her childhood, Sarah’s artistic life started when she moved including the Great Dividing Ranges and back to her birthplace, Morwell, and joined Canberra. Aboriginal pottery company Yandina Earth. “Bendoc, Bonang, Goongerah, Cabbage Tree “[The women] could be who they want to be, do Creek, I was up in those places … you didn’t what they like and there is nobody there to put have much up there. You made your own them down,” she said. entertainment,” she said. It was the start of a long-term passion for “We used to walk around the bush and you had creating art, which keeps her busy at her easel to be careful where you walked because they while at Headway’s Wonthaggi-based social had straight-drop [mine] shafts.” support group. She remembers tasks like walking several “I love doing my artwork now. It helps me to kilometres with a three-gallon container to fetch relax and to be who I am, I enjoy it. I’ve got a kerosene for the fridge. lot of pain problems and brain damage and everything else from a motorbike accident,” “You would fill it up and light the wick and the Sarah said.