Greetings from the team at Millvale House Waikanae!
Welcome to our newsletter for Winter 2025. The weather has cooled down, but we are grateful to have our new heating system in the lounges to keep everyone toasty and warm!
As we hunkered down for winter, our residents have enjoyed indoor activities, including hand and foot massages and pampering. Some of our ladies particularly enjoy getting their nails painted. We love to see them looking smart with their freshly painted nails. Another popular activity is colouring in. This is such a peaceful and enjoyable activity for many of our residents. We bring in the Horowhenua Chronicle for one of our residents who enjoys reading the paper. Our residents also enjoy balloon games and snakes and ladders.
We also try to have some live entertainment every fortnight which is always a hit. The drumming circle we held recently was a big success and we hope Andres will be back soon to entertain us. We also have Alan with live music from the seventies onwards. Hannah also sings music which our residents remember.
When you visit, you may notice that several trees in one corner have been taken down. This has increased the light entering some of the residents’ rooms and has made those spaces brighter at this time of year. One of our residents really enjoyed watching the arborist through the window. He watched him scale the tree and then carefully cut it down, section by section.
We have changed over to our winter menu as we head into the cooler months. We are enjoying different meals like hearty pies, casseroles and of course our much-loved Sunday roast and “Fish & Chips Friday” are still enjoyed regularly.
We had a special time on Mother’s Day. Family members came to spend time with their mothers and the mothers in our home enjoyed chocolate, cupcakes and pampering.
We enjoyed a wonderful high tea of savouries, club sandwiches and fresh baking in celebration of the King’s Birthday.
In staffing news, we said goodbye to our Registered Nurse Nina, and Stephanie our cook. We have had Divya and Divine join us as Registered Nurses, and Simone joins us as a cook. Anu started as a Caregiver. A very warm welcome to all our new staff.
We were also sad to say goodbye to our Clinical Manager, Larry. We very much appreciate Larry's work and his leadership of the clinical team here at Millvale House Waikanae. We wish him all the very best as he continues his nursing journey.
We are very fortunate to have had Ash (Ashwathy) join us as our new Clinical Manager. Ash joined our organisation as a Caregiver at Millvale House Levin and completed her Competency Assessment Programme course to become a Registered Nurse. Since then she has impressed with her clinical skills, leadership and communication with families. We are excited to have her on board.
We are eagerly anticipating our Winter Family Gathering which is coming up on Friday the 25th of July. We hope you can join us for a bite to eat and to enjoy spending time together with family and friends. Everyone is welcome.