A Moment with Our CEO
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DECEMBER / JANUARY2015 NEWS FROM CROWLEY CARE SERVICES A moment with our CEO Hello everyone publications, media and Christmas and New Year is such a great time events. I particularly at Crowley to connect with families, friends and thank the residents and colleagues. And again this year there are lots of clients who helped make opportunities to celebrate. this Annual Report the beautiful document it Looking through the list of events I can say with is by giving their time confidence we know how to party at Crowley! and sharing their life The Christmas party season has already started with experiences with us all our Auxiliary Christmas Dinner and our Staff End of AND some great news to Year Party, which this year was at the Lighthouse end our year on. Beach Café with over 100 staff attending. I’m thrilled to be able There are Christmas parties planned for Home Care to report that Crowley clients and their families, Residential Care Residents has just received and their families and Independent Living Residents Development Consent not to mention the community organisations who from Ballina Shire Council make use of our facilities for their celebrations. The for our redevelopment. culmination of these is on Christmas Day when we This is another milestone serve a Traditional Christmas Dinner. This is always in the project’s program and a great way to end the a special day with our residents being joined by year. family and friends in the spirit of Christmas. This includes working hard and taking time The entire organisation will also start being to consider their functionality so that they are decorated this month. I have been reliably advised environments that work for all of us – residents, that last year we had no less than 14 Christmas clients, staff, families and our entire community. We trees in buildings right across the site. This year Kelli look forward to sharing more detailed plans about has promised to go at least one better. Oh dear, this exciting project in the near future. have we set a precedent? As this is our last Chatterbox for 2015 we would Crowley’s 2014/15 Annual Report is currently being like to take this opportunity on behalf of the Board, prepared for distribution. It’s a great snapshot of our Management, staff and volunteers, our residents and achievements for the year. clients to wish all of our readers of The Chatterbox This Annual Report theme highlights Crowley’s a happy and holy Christmas and New Year Season. residents and clients as fascinating individuals with We look forward to being of service to you again in their own unique stories and experiences in life to 2016. tell. The theme reminds us of our Vision, Values and promise at Crowley – particularly our commitment to treat all in our care, as individuals with their own passions and lives truly lived. Michael Penhey A big thank you to all of our residents, clients and CEO families who contributed this year to our many In this issue Last Month at Crowley 2 Home Care News 8 Hotel Services News 21 Residential Care News 6 Maintenance News 15 Organisational News 24 What happened last month at Crowley Out and About BY THE LEISURE AND LIFESTYLE TEAM Leaving No Pin Standing... Chiming a Chorus with the Crowley Choir Riverview residents had a bowl of a time visiting “This is the best thing that has ever happened Ballina Ten Pin Bowling centre with two of the here” and “I am so happy, I feel like I am in teams striking out all the pins. What a roll! heaven” were just two of the many positive A super pastime with most residents who played comments recieved after our recent choir practice. telling a little story or sharing a memory of their On Monday afternoons at 4pm the choir gathers bowling heydays. in the Lillipilli Lounge. Everyone is welcome and it’s never too late to join in. The choir is currently Country Roots - Alstonville Show practicing for a Christmas Some of us revisited our country roots by going to performance at the Alstonville Show. And we weren’t disappointed. Crowley. Pavilions showcased a host of talents and local The idea for produce. We sampled some fabulous home the choir came baked goods for lunch and enjoyed the afternoon after Ted Van watching ring events and eating ice-cream in a de Mortel and gorgeous rural setting. Does it get any better? A Crowley Leisure definite mark in the calendar to return next year! and Lifestyle team member Del McAlister discovered the harmony of their singing voices. Waiting and praying for a pianist to join, unfortunately none was forthcoming. So Ted suggested we start the choir anyway, kindly donating a guitar from Planet Music in Lismore so that Del could accompany them. A huge thanks to Ted for his generosity! What a Catch! The dream of the Crowley Choir is a now reality! During one of our bus (PS: we would still love to have a pianist join us aswell). drives, our staff decided to have a bit of fun. Our awesome volunteer driver Peter parked under “Music the Big Prawn while Del speaks what cannot be expressed, jumped out and took this quirky photo- it looks like soothes the mind and gives it rest, someone made a custom-built roof rack heals the heart and makes it whole, on our bus to transport flows from heaven to the soul.” a very large prawn. thechatterbox. PAGE 2 What happened last month at Crowley Speaking of music, the Leisure and Lifestyle Spring has Sprung team would like to thank Beryl Greenwood for Pretty hats were on show and happy family stories her donation of CDs and DVDs to add to our were told to celebrate Spring’s arrival. collection. Residents also enjoyed watching a DVD of the What a delight it was for our residents to enjoy beautiful Chelsea Flower show. the first of a number of Christmas concerts by members of our community. Thank you Sing Fast cars and football were the order of the day Australia for launching the festive season here at as residents recalled their youth at a Cars and Crowley. You were great! Football memorabilia display. Thanks to Brian Fergus for bringing in his model cars and State of Origin DVD which was enjoyed by all. A picnic at Riverview Park was enjoyed by residents in Rosebank and Prospect. The lovely river views, food, fresh air and seagulls were just what the doctor ordered. Next time we will remember to take the fishing lines! Melbourne Cup Madness Melbourne Cup was celebrated in style in the Activity Centre with a beautiful champagne luncheon, sweeps and of course fashions leading up to the big race. Congratulations to Sybil Huxtable who won Best Dressed, Jenny Blake for Best Hat, Jill Taylor for Most Original Hat and Harry Mills who won the lucky door prize. Keith Hoare recently went fishing with family, daughter Jenny and son- in-law Wally and managed to catch a lovely flathead. PAGE 3 thechatterbox. What happened last month at Crowley Popular Pop-Up Shopping Mall Recently local businesses set up shop in the Activity Centre for the first Crowley Shopping Mall. It was a huge success. We had a total of 12 businesses attend, including Chemmart, Homyped Shoes, Choklat, CH2480 Photography, Corries, Belluno, Black Pepper, George Gooley, Best & Less and Devonshire. Residents could do a spot of Christmas shopping and buy personal items, including shoes and clothing. The Crowley Auxiliary did a wonderful job keeping everyone fed with the Devonshire morning tea, enjoyed by a steady stream of customers. Feedback from residents and retailers was very positive and all are keen to do it again next year. Thankyou to all who participated in making this event such a success. Flyer for New Year Celebration - Res Care thechatterbox. PAGE 4 Other News December Birth Flower: The Narcissus signifies respect, modesty and faithfulness December Birthstone: Turquoise Sign of the Zodiac: Sagittarius Dates: November 23 – December 21 Characteristics of Sagittarius: Ethical, humorous, generous, dynamic and compassionate January Birth Flower: The Carnation signifies love, fascination and distinction movie January Birthstone: Garnet arvo Sign of the Zodiac: Capricorn Dates: December 22 – January 20 Movie: Babe When: Wednesday 18 December Characteristics of Capricorn: Stable, Where: Education Centre Room 2 trustworthy, persistent, ambitious Time: 1.00pm to 3.00pm, and patient. followed by afternoon tea Cost: Gold Coin donation RSVP: Monday 16 December Gentle farmer Arthur Hoggett (James Cromwell) wins a piglet named Babe (Christine Cavanaugh) at a County Fair. Narrowly escaping his fate as Christmas dinner when Farmer Hoggett decides to show A boy asks his father, “Dad, are bugs good to him at the next fair, Babe bonds with eat?” “That’s disgusting. Don’t talk about things motherly border collie Fly (Miriam Margolyes) and discovers that he too like that over dinner,” the dad replies. After dinner can herd sheep. But will the other the father asks, “Now, son, what did you want to farm animals, including Fly’s jealous ask me?” “Oh, nothing,” the boy says. “There was husband Rex, accept a pig who doesn’t conform to the farm’s social a bug in your soup, but now it’s gone.” hierarchy? Director: Chris Noonan PAGE 5 thechatterbox. Residential Care News Safe Medication Administration BY CHRISTINE LAWTON, RESIDENTIAL CARE SERVICES (DDON) ASSISTANT MANAGER Administering prescribed medications to residents Importantly, to reduce the risk of errors occurring is one of the important jobs our staff attend to in staff need to be able to concentrate, have minimal their day.