A-C-P Highlights: October 2022

acp_crew
Nov 10, 2022
5 min read

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A grid design of the words AmeCare Community Paper, A-C-P, Recounts, Memories, and Highlights

A big

October/November babies...

24th Oct - Christine G

6th Nov - Naima J

8th Nov - Carla D

Nov 15th - Paul R

This month's newsletter is dedicated to the passing of one of our resident dogs, Becky...

Sadly our beloved Becky girl passed away on the morning of 10/11/22. She was a big part of the furniture at Alphington and was loved by all.

The residents at Alphington held a funeral for her the afternoon she passed. We played the song 'Amazing Grace' as we walked her out to the front garden to be laid to rest. Ian carried Becky in her little box, Maria A followed behind with a candle, Mark C carried some flowers, Gina carried her picture, and Millie held her brother Snowy. Paul R said some lovely words and then we read out some tributes that people had written down. Becky was then laid to rest under a rose bush in the front yard, with a new bunch of flowers and some sticks marking a cross.

At 14 years old, Becky was a sucker for a Schmacko and a cuddle. She had a fierce little personality that we will always remember fondly. She will be dearly missed. ♡

Silvia G

Silvia is the house manager at Pearce Place. She is relatively new to the role and she doing an absolutely fantastic job. She is a fantastic cook and she treats the residents as though we are her own children. Silvia keeps reminding the residents that we are one big family at Pearce Place . We are the ‘Pearce Place family’. Silvia does have two children of her own. Silvia is like a mother to all of us and we are really lucky to have her.

Nominated by Joseph

Joanne C

Jo has a great rapport with each and every one of her clients.

She is always thinking ahead and following through on plans.

Jo is a great role-model for providing person-centered support and always approaches things with a positive, fair attitude.

She is very dedicated and passionate about her role in supporting people and is a great member of our AmeCare family.

Nominated by Grace C

Agnes

She provides positive vibes and enthusiasm when working with clients, and engages with everyone on their level of understanding and comprehension. Agnes goes out of her way to help and assist clients in their daily living skills, specialist appointments, and general kindness to all. Her communication with clients is great, as I always hear them having a joke, talking and discussing their issues or current world issues.

Nominated by Darren

Matt

Matt always engages with the people he supports, receiving an enthusiastic, friendly, and excited 'hello' from everyone. He goes beyond his role in stepping up and managing situations when required, and communicates very well with clients on their level in a positive way. Matt is well-organised and is always mindful of providing enough time for people to complete their required tasks/ activities for the day.

Nominated by Darren

Winding down & gearing up

Author: Yanie

As we head towards the holiday season on 2022, I thought I would take the time to reflect on AmeCare's growth, hiccups, disappointments, and highlights over the past year.

I think the biggest factor affecting us has been navigating a 'post-Covid' or 'Covid-normal' world. The ease of restrictions has overall benefitted the wellbeing of staff and participants. There has also been a lot of social anxiety stemming from 2 years of being in-and-out of lockdowns. Things took a while to return to normal and now it seems like people are (naturally) unsure of what to do or how to return to the 'status quo', particularly in the last month.

Navigating Covid-normal, we have also noticed that the demand (your needs) have changed, which has been interesting to keep up with. We've noticed that people's accommodation choices and preferences have shifted. For example, pre-Covid we noticed a lot of interest in independent/solo living; but post-COVID, there is more interest in community/shared living. Perhaps this is a testament to how isolating COVID was for all of us and how important human connection is.

NDIS plans, pricing changes, and funding cuts have also been a big thing for our SC's to navigate and advocate for. It's difficult proving how much support someone needs when a lot of support during COVID wasn't accessible. I've also heard rumours that in a post-Covid world, NDIS planning meetings will only be via telehealth, so I'm cautious about how equitable this process will be (while this might benefit some people, it may not be fair to those who prefer face-to-face meetings or have complex needs).

The past year has also brought about some significant process and policy changes within AmeCare. One of the biggest achievements was getting through our audit and becoming accredited with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. We also received our DFFH accreditation to work in partnership with their Children, Youth and Families (CYF) services. I am looking forward to AmeCare being able to support children and young people in transitional situations, and providing services specifically designed to support them. I am also grateful for the opportunity for AmeCare to broaden our expertise. We have been recruiting specifically for youth workers, and are looking to expand our team to include allied health and alternative therapies (like counselling, massage, and kinesiology).

I think all of these changes have helped our management and office team really come together; they have found their stride in collaborating and working as a team - and having each other's backs.

Staff retention has been really hard, particularly with COVID and with rising costs of living as factors. Staff build close relationships with participants so, unfortunately, high-turnover affects clients' trust and ability to build rapport with support workers in general. We have always felt very strongly that we can only support someone as well as they can trust us. So, to increase job security and hopefully reduce staff turnover rates, we have implemented a lot more permanent contracts this year. We hope this will be a positive initiative for our loyal and highly regarded staff, as well as an opportunity for career progression.

With so many changes, past and future, having a close-knit and established team that support each other has been important to us and sustaining our growth.

A few things to 'watch this space' for...

You may have heard the name "Cause" a lot this year. This is our big project that has been 18 months in the making. We'll talk more about this next month, but the project is a brand-new, never-before-seen model of accommodation and support services.
Our annual holiday party. This is always a big highlight for our AmeCare community each year. The date of this year's party is still in the works, but we are planning on having it as a 'drop in' style so participants from all over can come and meet together. Watch your emails for an invite!

As many of you may already know, Grace and I will be winding down and going on maternity leave until January 2023. We are still here working behind the scenes but I know and trust that our management and office team will be fantastic and supportive in 'holding the fort' during this time.

Thank you to everyone in our AmeCare community for your ongoing love and support for each other.

I look forward to seeing our current projects develop in the new year, and what new opportunities present itself.

PRE-ORDER VIA EMAIL

Colouring competition!

The holiday season is always a highlight for our AmeCare community - so we thought it would be great to see if any of our gems want to design a holiday greeting card for us.

You can make your own template, or use the one below. If you use your own design make sure to include "from AmeCare" in it.
You can print it out and colour in using pencil, marker, crayon, paint, etc. Or you can download the image and create something digitally.
Send us your design - take a clear photo, send us a scanned copy, or send us a digital file to admin@amecare.com.au
Your design could be chosen to use as AmeCare's holiday greeting card!

We look forward to seeing some amazing designs!

Download the design!

Want to know more about our head office team?

CLICK HERE

Joseph's highlights

It has been a very busy few months for everyone. The residents of all the houses/facilities have been very busy with their work , going to day programs and joining in group activities at the houses : even going out on outings in the community.

Kevin Heinze Spring Fair	The Kevin Heinze Spring Fair was one of the big events that has happened over the last couple of months. The Fair was held on Saturday October the 15th. It was a very special occasion for lots of people including staff, families and especially participants like myself, Joseph, and Michael from Pearce Place who work there. I attend four days a week and during this time I work on the ‘Grow on the Go’ program. I also do a gardening program every Thursday morning at the ‘Heide Art Museum.’ On the day of the Fair I had a card stall and was selling my art cards. My mother Loretta and sister Maria were helping me with the selling of my art cards. The cards were a big hit where they were receiving a lot of attention from the wider community. I could not have done my card stall at the without the help and support from my sister Maria and my mother Loretta. The Fair was such a special occasion this year because, for the last two years, the event has not been able to be held because of Covid. Michael G, who goes to ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ with me also attended the spring fare with Debbie, his guardian and Rod, Debbie’s husband. Michael comes to ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ with me on Fridays . I did a radio interview on the morning of the Fare on the community radio station, 96.5 Inner FM. The interview was conducted by Greg King and his wife Carmel. I did his radio interview alongside Ruben who is a ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ staff member. We spoke to Greg King and his wife about the type of work that I do at ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ . I told Greg that I work with Ruben on Wednesdays . That program that is incorporated with ‘Kevin Heinze Grow’ is called the ’Grow on the Go’ program. I told Greg and Carmel that Ruben and I go around Melbourne in the van and work on people’s gardens in the wider Melbourne community. I also told them that I come to ‘Kevin Heinze Grow ‘ four days a week . Greg King also asked what I do for the other days of the week and I explained that to him. Overall the radio interview went well. It was actually the second time that I have been interviewed on the Community radio. It has always been one of my dreams to be involved in the radio industry since I was a little boy and now that dream has come true.
Group Activities at Pearce Place	Silvia organised some group activities for the residents when we had two public holidays off in a row. This was on the Thursday when we had a public holiday for the Queen passing away and on the Friday for the Grand Final public day holiday. On the Thursday we played mini golf together at a mini golf course in Greensborough. I was declared the winner of the mini-golf competition. We did have our own score card and kept our scores. We then drove from the mini-golf course to a fish and chip shop in Doreen where we purchased some fish and chips for our lunch and ate them at the park. We actually couldn’t eat all our fish and chips so we took them with us and travelled back to Pearce Place. We just took it easy and relaxed with each other at there for the rest of the afternoon. On the Friday we had another group outing: going ten pin bowling with each other. I had a one on one worker for the outing called Carla. We played two games of ten -pin bowling. We won a game each before travelling up the road to a shopping centre. We found a restaurant and had some lunch. Then Carla drove me to my parent’s place in Parkville where I stayed for the rest of the long weekend.
A-GRADE OUTDOOR CRICKET	Michael P and myself will be starting the new season of A Grade outdoor cricket for the Yarraville Cricket Club disability side this coming Sunday. Michael and I will be joint captains of the Yarraville cricket side this coming Sunday. The competition that we play in is called the M.A.A.C.A. competition (M.A.A.C.A. stands for the Melbourne All Abilities Cricket Association). We have been playing in the Melbourne All Abilities Cricket Association for the last two seasons and are hoping that they can win the flag this season.
INDOOR CRICKET	Michael P and myself are still continuing to play Indoor Cricket at the Action Indoor Sports and Cricket centre in Footscray every single Tuesday night. It is getting towards the end of the indoor cricket season. It will be interesting to see if either of our sides make the Indoor Cricket finals.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading my article for the AMECARE newsletter. I hope that you have found my article to be interesting and insightful, as well as informative. I look forward until the next time when I write another article for all of you.

Written by Joseph Krelle, Pearce Place.

Did you know Joseph is also a keen artist?

You can even buy greeting cards with his artworks on the front!

Click the link below to see them.

GO-JOE ART & DESIGN

Dan's Highlights

With our worker Pip we were whisked away not knowing our travels turned to be pure bliss, and the ultimate time to reset, getting to utilise a beautiful house at Helmside Villa. A totally relaxing and epic journey. Would love to do it all again. Remarkable highlights fish and chips from Mount Martha, friendly, easy-going people. I am grateful to have seen my grandparents and have Scott and I share a few yarns of our own. Scott and Pip had ducked away to see what was biting, though come across renovations at the pier. We were blessed with great weather. We would go back anytime. Thank you for a warm welcome to Helmside Villa from Scott, Pip and I (Daniel). Go Team!

Did you know Dan has a chatbook of his poetry?

You can buy a digital or print version of the book at the link below:

PEACES OF DAN

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