Nau Mai Haere Mai…. Welcome to our first family newsletter for 2025
We hope all of you enjoyed summer and the festive season with family and friends. We were so blessed to be able to gather over this time to enjoy this special time with our loved ones. Our team at Leighton House was so delighted to celebrate this festive season by organising our Christmas family gathering as well as our volunteers gathering. Our activities team organised several raffles. Well done to the winners!
We enjoyed a number of van trips this summer. A big thank you to Dianne, our Activities Coordinator, for taking our residents out and about. They enjoyed going down to the beach, walking down to the botanical garden and a trip to Tairāwhiti Museum.
Over summer, our residents enjoyed playing housie, ring toss and indoor bowls. They did baking in the River Lounge whilst overlooking the bridge and river. They also enjoyed making bookmarks and korowai. It was amazing to see how creative they can be, and how proud they were of their work.
We always look forward to live entertainment. Thank you so much to our entertainers who take time out of their busy schedules to keep our residents entertained. Our residents have been enjoying live entertainment from Ron and Allan, Mike Mulrooney, Dave Walters, and the hospice singers.
We would like to welcome new faces into our Leighton House team. Simarjeet, Gurveen, Kamla and Winson have joined our Caregiving team; Dianne has joined our Activities team; Tessa joins our Home Assistant team; and Karmanpreet joins our Registered Nurse team.
Most of you will know that Preet has now qualified as a New Zealand Registered Nurse. She is stepping aside from her Operations Manager role to focus on nursing at Leighton House. This is exciting news for Preet and we are so glad that she is staying on with us.
We are pleased to announce that our new Operations Coordinator, Rodney Rivera, will be starting at Leighton House after Easter. Rodney previously had significant experience as a Registered Nurse in the Philippines before moving to New Zealand in 2013. Rodney has since worked both in customer service roles, and as a Level 4 Caregiver in a rest home in Gisborne. He is very passionate about caring for others and he strives to bring kindness and compassion to the people he interacts with every day. We look forward to welcoming Rodney to our team.
A reminder to all family members to please name any new clothing you bring in for your loved one, so that it can be safely returned to the correct room after it’s been laundered. You are always welcome to borrow a laundry marker from our office.
We do hope that you are able to make the most of the last of the warmer weather as we head into autumn.
