Month: August 2022

Nathan Cockerill, Lendlease Retirement Living Managing Director, is a hard man to catch in the office in Melbourne.

More often than not he is out of State visiting one of the ASX-listed company’s retirement villages.

Nathan, who is on the executive of the Property Council’s Retirement Living Council, told The SOURCE why he does it.

“I love spending time with our residents. We have 17,000 residents across our portfolio and each and every one has their own unique story. Just listening to those stories fulfills my day and I learn a lot from them and appreciate all the things they’ve done in their lifetime,” Nathan said.

“I try to visit all our 75 villages at least twice a year and really value the opportunity to also hear about village life. We know the needs of retirees are constantly evolving and listening to our residents is the only way we can ensure we continue to provide the lifestyle they want and expect.”

Nathan, who has worked at Lendlease in the Retirement Living portfolio since May 2014, said his most memorable visits are the 100^th Birthday Clubs.

“For residents that reach this milestone, we gift them with a family portrait or mini memoir capturing their incredible life. The community spirit is infectious and it’s wonderful to see our residents being celebrated in such a way.” he said. 

A survey of more than 850 residents of Stockland retirement villages (now Levande villages) across metropolitan Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula found an average satisfaction rate of 8.63/10 when asked how happy they are with their social life in their village.

Krystal Wood, Village Manager at Stockland’s Ridgehaven Rise Retirement Village, says “There is a well-documented benefit of residing in a village where residents foster companionship and connection with their neighbours.”

“At Ridgehaven Rise, our residents participate in a bustling social calendar with internal activities and resident-organised outings, such as the bus trips arranged by Helen Bishop.”

Helen (pictured), as volunteer social outings coordinator at Stockland’s Ridgehaven Rise village, organises social gatherings and outings for her fellow residents.

These include regular bus trips, meals at local hotels and weekend getaways across country South Australia. Most recently, she organised a “Mega Op Shop Day”, coordinating two buses filled with 23 of her fellow residents to charity op shops across the western suburbs.

“The village buses are driven by five resident volunteers, who are very much in demand and valued for their trips to shops, hospitality venues and tourist attractions.”

Top ideas for group social activities in retirement villages

If you live in a retirement village, join the village social club. If they don’t have one, start one!

• Who doesn’t love a bargain? Organise a “mega op shop day” to browse for bargains or enjoy a window shop.
  
• Organise a carpool with some friends or neighbours. Start with a local outing to start with and encourage their friends to join too.
  
• If you have any excess food items or produce from the garden, knock on a neighbour’s door to say hello and share your goods.
  
• Hire a bus and plan a day trip or weekend away. Ask your friends or neighbours for suggestions of places they’d like to visit.
  
• Join in with as many events as you can. The more you get involved, the more people you will meet.
  
• Mobility issues shouldn’t impact your social life. Lunches at local hotels or bowling clubs, card nights, bingo, book clubs and knitting groups provide opportunities to socialise without too much walking.

This year has seen our sector challenged in many very different ways – the incessant floods in many regions or the never-ending COVID-19 pandemic. Either way, ourselves and communities have been stretched out of our comfort zones on many occasions.  

However the term crisis can be and will mean something different to all of us, it doesn’t just occur when these major events occur.  Whilst the major event might exacerbate the mental health of our teams as individuals, there may be a crisis they are dealing with that we have not yet become aware of. 

Be aware of your team

In recent survey, prior to the pandemic, found 20% of workers were experiencing a mental health challenge.  However when their leaders were surveyed their leaders were unaware of this.  

Therefore, as community leaders and as team leaders in our villages it is vital for us to understand how we can identify and support our teams and community through periods where they may experiencing a mental health challenge. 

Mental health is a continuum with mental illness at one end and mental well-being at the other.

With individuals going back and forth on this continuum depending on the many influences in our life and not only the perceived crisis that we experience as a community.   

Leadership and burnout

Leadership, can be a lonely, isolating and stressful place, particularly for village professionals who are constantly people facing, on call (some 24/7), sometimes caught in the middle, the responder to emergency, the problem solver and often dealing with a large workload for long periods.  So there is no surprise that BURNOUT is common amongst village professionals.

Good foundations – Diet, Exercise and Sleep  

• Reframing our thinking patterns to focus on the FACT & not the STORY we might be telling ourselves 
• Scheduling of regular downtime – leave, breaks, think time and social time  
• Reduce habits that may inhibit progress – excessive email and phone checking  
• Identify what indicators present themselves when beginning to feel yourself spiralling  
• Building a tool kit of responses in the event you feel a change in your mental health – ask for help, tactical breathing, identify priority, etc…  

The retirement village sector is changing and evolving quickly.

More operators are engaging the strategy to provide aged care within their villages. The Baby Boomer generation is increasingly more demanding and won’t let up until they get what they feel they deserve.

Disputes are becoming more frequent.

It is now more important than ever to be connected to a group of likeminded peers to share experiences, learnings and sometimes even just validation that you are on the right path.  

At the DCM Institute we are committed to building this network alongside you in every state, to ensure that village professionals, whether in customer facing roles or head office roles, have a network to fall back on and connect with on a regular basis.  

Together with your peers you can solve the challenges of the day and keep up to date with industry trends and local issues. Check September network events or set up your own with the link HERE.

Remember, our Professional Development Days PD Days are also tailored to each State to ensure you have the opportunity to meet your colleagues and network.

There were four special people in attendance when Bolton Clarke’s Bongaree Retirement Village on the western side of Bribie Island celebrated its 30^th birthday earlier this month.

Norma Collins, Bill and Daphne Eaton, and Heather Patterson are original members of Bongaree Retirement Village.

Norma said after 30 years she still thinks the move to Bongaree was the best decision she and her late husband ever made.

“My husband chose the unit off the plan and we came down after church every Sunday and watched it being built,” she said.

“We have been in the same unit ever since and even now at 93, I’m still in love with it.”‘

Daphne said it was a visit from the RSL Bribie Island Women’s Auxiliary that convinced her and her husband to move into the retirement village.

“At the time we had come to Bribie and we were living in a caravan park,” she said.

“It doesn’t seem that long ago! I can still remember every detail from the day we moved in.”

Daphne’s husband Bill said Bongaree is the place he wants to be when he joins the Centenarian Club.

“I could get to being 100 here! I’m 98 now and we will be celebrating it here,” he said.

Village manager Sharon Rodgers, who was this year named a finalist in Leading Age Services Australia’s Retirement Village Manager of the Year Awards, said it was a pleasure to be able to celebrate with her residents.

“Not only to acknowledge 30 years since stage two was completed, but to be able to celebrate with existing residents who are still living independently in their units,” she said.

Members of the RSL Women’s Auxiliary, which funded the building of the four first homes in the village, were in attendance to cut the cake. Today, Bolton Clarke Bongaree has 50 homes, a community hall, swimming pool, and caretakers unit.