Introducing Lyn Ferguson (pictured above), Village Manager at Bethanie Elanora in South Bunbury, a beachside suburb in Bunbury, 175km south of Western Australia’s capital city Perth, and part of DCM Institute’s exclusive 1,000 Club.
Did you have a different career before becoming a Village Manager? Tell us about them and how did they set you up for the role?
When I started with Bethanie I was employed as a physician assistant in the Southern Regional Hub and also worked within Community. Learning about the services and packages, meeting clients, and accompanying them on their outings was always so satisfying.
I also worked in the laundry, the kitchen, in administration and in the maintenance team, and having brought in some accounts experience, I’ve experienced the business from many angles.
What do you enjoy most about your role and the one thing that has surprised you about it?
I really enjoy interacting and supporting the residents and their families and helping them understand what services are available and how to utilise them.
What have you gained from the DCM Institute program?
The DCM Institute provided me with the knowledge of so many practical elements of managing a Village, as well as understanding more from the perspective of management.
There is always something that you can take away that you weren’t aware of and with DCM Institute we have ongoing support, plus networking with other business partners in the industry.
How do you manage your time to ensure you can balance responsibilities to residents and your operator, with your own learning and development?
I have dedicated time that I put aside for my DCM Institute leaning and development in order to focus.
The one thing you would tell anyone thinking of being a Village Manager.
Being a Village Manager is a big responsibility, but it is also very rewarding to help guide residents through the next chapter of their lives.
I find the support we give to the families alongside the residents in our village is equally powerful. I totally love my job and all the residents.
The report, Empowering Older Australians with Better Product Usability, summarises the findings of a national survey of more than 1,000 Australians aged 65 years and over on the challenges they face in everyday situations.
We’ve identified that there’s a significant gap between industry’s belief that products are user-friendly for older consumers and the actual usability challenges faced by older Australians every day.
Julianne Parkinson, CEO, Global Centre for Modern Ageing
More than 80% of respondents felt product designers and manufacturers overlooked their needs, flagging examples from font usage, to grip issues when it comes to handling products.
The report has been produced to draw the attention of product developers and manufacturers of the need to consider the fastest growing consumer market in Australia – the over 65s.
There are 23 recommendations but the ones must pertinent to the retirement living sector are:
Recommendation 1: Underpin the Support at Home Program with inclusion and exclusion principles and clearly defined service lists.
Recommendation 3: It is appropriate older people make a fair co-contribution to the cost of their aged care based on their means.
Recommendation 7: Establish a fee-for-service model for Support at Home that ensures participants only pay a co-contribution for services received.
Recommendation 8: Introduce Support at Home participant co-contributions that vary based on the type of service accessed.
“The Taskforce notes the Support at Home Program needs much clearer specifications than current programs about what it will and will not fund. The lack of clarity and consistency in inclusions and exclusions in current home care programs has led to confusion between providers and participants. This affects participants’ ability to make informed choices about their care, diminishes value for money in the programs, and could also mean that funds are not used according to the policy intent of home care,” it reads.
In a nutshell, it wants to make the consumer pay for non-care components such as gardening, washing the dishes, and general cleaning.
This is positive news for the sector. The Retirement Living Council (RLC) has released a new document titled “Shared Care”, the brainchild of Ryman Healthcare Australia CEO Cam Holland (pictured), which proposes part of a resident’s Home Care Package funding can be shared with the rest of the village to create efficiencies. An example would be part of the funds would contribute to a nurse on-site which would benefit the whole village as well as a care package recipient.
Cam has long advocated for the ability to increase contributions from residents to lessen the burden on the taxpayer.
While direct aged care services should always be publicly funded, the accommodation and daily service costs aged care residents currently contribute to on top of that [in the form of refundable accommodation deposits and daily accommodation payments and basic daily fees] need to be deregulated.”
“Consumers, especially cashed-up Baby Boomers who are entering aged care in their droves, want the kind of accommodation and services they’ve enjoyed their entire lives, aged care operators want to provide these, but aren’t allowed to under the current model.
“Through a co-contribution model, government funding would cover care costs, while residents with the means to would contribute towards accommodation and daily hotel services that suit their individual tastes and requirements. Appropriate safety nets for those without means are already part of the current legislative environment and should be protected and strengthened.”
With the average age of retirement village residents now 81, and one in three Australians aged over 85 living with some form of dementia or cognitive impairment, it doesn’t take a mathematician to realise that dementia is no longer an emerging problem for village operators – it’s on the doorstep now.
With few legal avenues available to move residents from the village onto residential aged care, Village Managers are increasingly dealing with residents with higher-level dementia needs ranging from wandering and ‘sundowning’ to agitation and aggression.
is there a solution?
James Wiltshire, Executive Director of the DCM Institute, which provides professional development for Village Managers and head office staff, says it is clear that Village Professionals need some strategies and training to be able to identify and understand any changes in their residents, and be able to act instead of waiting for the behaviours to escalate.
Managers and staff at the coalface of our sector are starved for guidance on how to approach the subject of dementia with residents and with their families.
James Wiltshire, Executive Director, DCM Institute
The DCM Institute held a series of Professional Development Days across the country last year that covered the issue of dementia and retirement living in partnership with dementia advocacy peak body Dementia Australia.
The operator also has a responsibility to take on a leadership role in educating its staff and residents about dementia.
One operator that has taken on the ‘dementia challenge’ is Keyton, which has 76 operational retirement villages across Australia and has seen a majority of its village staff from the executive leadership team down complete training with Dementia Australia.
“We obviously see in the villages that our staff witness a lot of changed behaviours, some of which may be because a resident has dementia,” said Marcelle Wilson, Keyton’s National Operations Manager – Governance & Compliance.
“So, it’s important for the staff that they understand what dementia is, and what they can do to assist that person living with dementia to feel more comfortable.”
“From the other residents’ perspective, they are living in a community so it’s important that they understand so that they can be more patient with people who might have some behavioural symptoms of dementia.”
Educating residents to end dementia stigma
Keyton first started working with Dementia Australia in August 2018 when the operator held Dementia Friends workplace events in its Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth corporate offices and for staff across 26 villages in ACT, NSW, VIC, and QLD.
The Dementia Friends campaign is run as a free morning or afternoon tea event where staff can come to learn more about dementia and hear people living with dementia tell their stories via a series of videos with the aim of reducing some of the stigma around the disease.
“We know there is some discrimination and angst [among village residents], and it’s driven by a lack of understanding of the disease,” said Marie Norman, National Relationships Manager at Dementia Australia, who worked with both Keyton and DCM Instite on their dementia education content.
Dementia Australia’s Marie Norman, speaking at a DCM Institute Professional Development Day in Sydeny, August 2023.
People often find it confronting if their fellow residents are disorientated or being more outspoken, which can happen depending on where the damage is in the brain.
We help them to understand that it is a disease process and not someone simply becoming difficult.”
Marie Norman, Dementia Australia
Supporting carers in the village
The other aspect is supporting those residents where one person is acting as a carer for a partner living with dementia.
“There’s a whole support network system that needs to be in place,” said Marcelle.
Some carers aren’t aware of the resources that are available for them to tap into so it’s also about connecting them with organisations such as Dementia Australia.
Marcelle Wilson, Keyton’s National Operations Manager – Governance & Compliance
Dementia Australia can also provide villages with advice on changes to the village, for example, improved signage and using name badges, that can help people living with dementia to navigate their way around more easily.
ongoing dementia education required
Following the success of these Dementia Friends workplace events, Keyton rolled out Dementia Australia’s Understanding Dementia training – three-hour, face-to-face sessions for village staff – across all its villages in 2019, with 400 staff taking part.
These training sessions discuss steps that Village Managers can take to better support their residents.
The education gives them the capacity and confidence to be able to handle situations and empowers them to make better decisions to work out a way to support that person
Maria Norman, Dementia Australia
“Village Managers want to provide residents with a quality of life,” James said. “There does come a time when this can’t be achieved without having the skills and knowledge of how to facilitate access to the care and support.”
Dementia Australia advises that this kind of training should also extend to all village staff, for example, reception, gardening, and maintenance staff who may have contact with residents.
With the Government putting more funding into helping older Australians to live at home for longer – and residential aged care increasingly reserved for people at the end-of-life or palliative stage – the reality is that villages will be home to residents with higher-level dementia care needs.
Should all village operators be looking at Keyton’s initiatives and how their organisation is equipping staff and residents to face this challenge head-on?
Dementia Australia’s National Dementia Helpline is available 24/7 on 1800 100 500 for advice and support. Village staff can also contact Marie and the team at Dementia Australia via email at development@dementia.org.au.
“The Government has heard that retirement living can be complex, especially for some residents to understand their financial rights and obligations,” the Justice and Community Safety Directorate said.
“Some residents may face additional vulnerabilities, for example due to isolation or difficulty navigating technology.”
ACT Retirement Villages Residents Association (ACT RVRA) will be able to tell people in retirement villages that they are there to help and can talk to government agencies and join discussions to show off their excellent work and share useful ideas. Some of the money will be used to create newsletters and other materials for residents, ensuring that everyone, even those without internet, can stay informed with important updates, said the Directorate.
Key objectives funded by this grant include:
Enhancing the RVRA’s capabilities: Funding will support a ‘virtual’ office, dedicated phone line and resources to provide a reliable point of contact and information exchange for residents and stakeholders.
Building awareness: The grant helps the ACT RVRA promote itself directly within retirement villages as a source of support for residents, and to engage with government agencies and participate in relevant forums to showcase their work and best practices.
Enhancing communication: Resources will go towards newsletters for residents and informational materials, including ensuring residents without internet access receive vital updates.
John Beagle (pictured above), President of the ACT RVRA, said the grant would “make a tangible difference to the lives of ACT retirement village residents and prospective residents, who will be provided with independent information, advice, advocacy and representation, and the knowledge they need to understand and exercise their rights, and actively participate in their community”.
**John has subsequently stood down and Mike Vale is now Acting President of ACT RVRA.
Emma, who has been employed at the operator of Retirement Living, Residential Aged Care and Rental Accommodation services across Western Australia for over five years, was named WA Village Manager of the Year at a Property Council industry event in Perth last Wednesday (13 March).
I am deeply grateful for the guidance, inspiration and unwavering support of my colleagues at Masonic Care WA
Emma Benjamin, Village Manager, Masonic Care WA
“Working alongside such a dedicated group not only supports me, but it also inspires me to strive for excellence on a daily basis.”
A formoer mortgage and finance broker, Emma is now a finalist for the National Village Manager of the Year award, competing against:
