Millvale Lodge Lindale
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Stay up to date with what is going on at Millvale Lodge Lindale via our facebook page and articles from our newsletter below.
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Magic moments in our homes
Early Friday morning, I was greeted with a lovely smile from a resident who was excited to share that Mother’s Day was coming up in the weekend, and her son will be coming to visit her. I asked the resident if he usually gave her something on Mother’s Day. She replied, “Oh yes, always a bunch of flowers and a Mother’s Day card!”
One morning after breakfast, a resident appeared visibly upset and tearful as she was looking for her mum. I gently reoriented her and asked her to tell me about her family. We looked at the map on the wall in her bedroom, this seemed to bring her comfort. As we sat together, she confided in me that she still feels like a little girl and that she feels grateful to have someone with whom to share stories about her past.
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Greetings from the team at Millvale Lodge Lindale - July newsletter
Winter is here! We gather and be grateful.
As the cold weather arrived, we changed to our new winter menu. Our residents enjoyed the change and are keeping warm with the hearty meals provided.
We continue to feel fortunate that we have volunteers from our community who visit and share their beautiful music with our residents. Our residents gather and enjoy listening and singing along to the familiar songs. The residents are able to participate in some musical sessions as they strike the drums and shake the tambourine to the beat. We also have regular church services, run by volunteers. We are so grateful for the time they give to our residents.
Garden strolls and work in the garden are still popular with our residents, when the weather allows. We continue to enjoy our Vegepod and the raised garden bed. The tomatoes that we harvested were delicious. Some of our residents choose to participate in day-to-day tasks alongside our team members, such as sweeping fallen leaves. We are also enjoying a range of cosy indoor activities. Recently, these have included baking, board games, crafts and reading together. We have been exercising through this chillier season with hand and arm exercises, and our music sessions are sometimes a more active time as well. Sometimes we find that residents prefer having one on one time, rather than getting involved in group activities. Sometimes a team member will enjoy time with a resident and follow their mood and preferences. Together they might read the newspaper, sit and chat, sing or do colouring.
We loved celebrating our dear residents on Mothers’ Day. Their smiles really brightened the home. The day included visits from family, plus a special pet or two. We enjoyed a special afternoon tea together and our Activities Coordinators gave out Mother’s Day cards. It was a lovely day.
We were very pleased to welcome Rowella as our Clinical Manager in April. She says, “It was so lovely to receive a warm welcome from families, residents and staff alike”. We are also delighted to have Hyacinth continue as our Acting Operations Manager. It is wonderful to have them both leading our team.
It was recently International Nurses Day. The dedication, expertise and kindness of our nurses makes a significant impact on our residents and their whānau.
We hope families will continue to support us as we gather for our winter family gathering on July 23rd for Tanika and Kauri and July 25th for Nikau and Toetoe. We are looking forward to spending time with everyone.
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Greetings from the Millvale Lodge Lindale team
2024 has been and gone. What a busy year it was!
We would like to share that we had our Certification Audit in November last year and this came back with no findings. This is a wonderful result for our team and home. I would like to thank the families who made time to take part in the audit process. We thank our team at Millvale for all their hard work and for consistently ensuring that residents are given the very best care, not just during audit time, but every single day.
We had a great turn out for our Christmas family gathering in December. It was a fine and sunny day and we enjoyed sitting outside for the party. Thank you to everyone who came and helped us make this a special time.
Over summer, we enjoyed the warmer weather as much as we could. We held barbeques for all our small homes and enjoyed sizzling sausages with our residents on the deck. We have also refreshed the plants in our Vegepod and raised garden bed. This time we are trialing some different plants, mostly veggies and flowers, and not so many herbs, our cooks enjoy having a constant supply of fresh parsley from the garden though.
We have enjoyed having four calves grazing the front and back paddocks. Residents have taken their morning walks over to see them and enjoyed petting them. The calves have done a great job of cutting back the tall grass in the paddocks.
We have recently signed off new drivers to take our residents out in the van, after losing one of our drivers. We are looking forward to some more outings to Nikau Valley, the beach or the park!
Residents are often choosing to participate in everyday tasks alongside our team members. Sometimes they help with folding sheets and towels or doing the dishes. It is wonderful to work together while we perform these tasks.
We’ve had some changes in Millvale’s management team. Rhea has moved into a role at our supporting organisation, Dementia Care NZ. She will be the National Operational Support Leader for our organisation. It will be Rhea’s job to support Operations Managers at all the Dementia Care NZ homes around New Zealand. Rhea is currently supporting Hyacinth in her role of Acting Operations Manager and she will continue to be there for us going forward.
We were also sad to farewell Paula as our Clinical Manager. Paula has left to focus on her growing daughter and we wish her all the very best. We are excited to share that we will be welcoming our new Clinical Manager, Rowella Rolian – Cuares, in April. Rowella comes to us with 16 years’ experience in aged residential care and knows our community well. She is an experienced leader, and she builds strong relationships with residents and their families.
Finally, we also bid goodbye to our Registered Nurse, Helen. We are so grateful for the support Helen has given us over the years.
It is sad to say goodbye to people we’ve loved working with and sometimes change can feel hard too. Change is the only constant thing in our journey. Our team at Millvale Lindale is unwavering in our dedication to our residents as we make this transition. We are well supported by the Dementia Care NZ team and we are constantly working together and helping each other.