Author: Antonia Norris

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Key things to help you everyday Latest industry developments Things to watch

Is your village listed on villages.com.au? Act now and save $200

Do you have a pay promotion listing on our retirement village directory website villages.com.au, the N0.1 digital search and education directory?

If not, perhaps you should. Did you know that:

  • 870,000 people searched for a retirement village on villages.com.au in the past 12 months
  • Google ranks villages.com.au No.1 in most searches
  • villages.com.au educate visitors on retirement villages and contract with videos and expert education

The investment is $800 for 12 months for a full promotion listing, but rises to $1000 in July.

Why not search your suburb or town HERE, to check us out.

Need help with photos and words – we can do that for you.

Email us HERE or call Nathan on 02 9555, 9576.

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Key things to help you everyday Latest industry developments What the research tells us

Retirement villages are a really important member of the local community – invest in it

Many of us don’t think about how much a retirement villages contribute in the local community and how many people we touch.

100 residents each have two local friends and let’s say two local children – that’s 400 people and 400 families.

100 residents have doctors, dentists, hairdressers, pharmacists, clubs and shopping centres they buy from.

With 100 residents, you have a business that may be valued at $10M+ that spends money every week on maintenance and operations.

The village is important and you as the village manager are important to all these people.

And they are important to you.

To maximise the enjoyment of your role and the value of your village, for your residents and operator, our advice is to get out in the local community.

Here are some suggestions:

  1. Join a local community club or business council – it can be refreshing to network with other local business managers
  2. Ask your residents if they have any special local relationships that you can promote e.g. membership of local clubs, children who run local businesses
  3. Check the council website or visit their office to get the calendar of local events over the next 12 months to see what you can participate in
  4. Understand and promote what transport options are available to residents
  5. Promote local events in the village (special business sales, community events)
  6. Identify local businesses that can benefit both the residents & business owners and suggest some special deals e.g. the local butcher offers of a village special once a week or businesses that can deliver, offer seniors discount, or are willing to do a talk/host event for residents are a great start
  7. Inviting local community groups into the village for an agreed function/activity or be a guest speaker

I like to think as Village Mangers we are striving to be great Community leaders in every way.

It’s the last day of January so why not start the year on a fresh note.

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Reporting Results What the research tells us

January is peak sales enquiry time

Did you know that this week is the biggest new village sales enquiry of the year?

January 10-17 always generates the most visits to our website villages.com.au with a seasonally high number of people clicking on phone numbers and website links, connecting with you, asking for information.

See the graph above.

This translates into sales over the next three to 12 months.

Why is this so? Obviously, Christmas time is time for reflection and discussion by potential residents and their family. There is likely two discussions. Either an event has occurred and it is time to look at the options, or for people who plan ahead they are doing just that, thinking about the next 10 or 20 years of their lives.

In 2018 the number of people coming to villages.com.au searching for a retirement village grew by 19%, now up to close on 900,000 people. This is massive.

It shows that retirement villages remain a really desirable accommodation or lifestyle option. Village managers can be proud of this.

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Latest industry developments

High-rise villages gather momentum

Something for you to think about. Over the Christmas period a couple of new retirement village developments were announced, and they are big high-rise buildings.

How would you like to be managing a 21-storey retirement village with 142 apartments (pictured) Ozcare, a QLD not-for-profit operator, is going to build one 500 metres from Aveo’s 19-storey Newstead village.

Also, over Christmas, another QLD not-for-profit operator, Bolton Clarke (the old RSL Care) announced a 25-storey retirement village which will have 182 apartments.

In December the construction of a retirement village called U City topped out in Adelaide at 20 storeys. It is being built by another not-for-profit, Uniting Communities.

These are big and expensive projects; their cost ranges from $100 million to $200 million to build. They will take village management to a whole new level – which is exciting as it expands career opportunities.

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Things to watch

Royal Commission into Aged Care starts tomorrow. Negative media started yesterday.

Last night on the ABC TV’s 7.30 Report a disturbing story was presented on the use of drugs as a medical restraint of residents in aged care facilities.

In the introduction the presenter said 7.30 Report had received ‘access’ to a submission being made to the Royal Commission into Aged Care. They had interviewed and filmed resident families across several states.

We here at DCM Media are receiving daily new press releases detailing negative stories by groups wishing to bring attention to their particular aged care cause.

It’s going to be a rough and worrying year for your residents as the Royal Commission unfolds. This will cover home care as well as residential aged care.

It is worth reminding them that across the country there are 220,000 people receiving residential aged care and respite care each year plus 80,000 receiving home care packages and 800,000 receiving Community Home Support Program (CHSP) care into their homes.

While any negative incident is deplorable, the actual number compared to number of people being cared for is extremely low.

75% of the job of the Royal Commission is to be positive and find better processes and solutions to care for the aged. Hopefully this will be reported too.

The Royal Commission starts in Adelaide tomorrow but the real business commences mid-February.

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Key things to help you everyday What the research tells us

January means revisiting the basics. Top of the list: investing in ‘the village community’

All the research, and our experience, shows that one of the biggest drivers for people joining a retirement village is the ‘sense of community’.

What does this mean? It means having like-minded people around you that you can simply know are there, up to mixing with them on a daily basis. Village residents are not alone, compared to ageing in the family home, often isolated.

But sense of community just doesn’t happen; and it can drop away unless we invest in it.

Every January it is a good idea to simply reflect on what is going on in the village over the next 12 months that keeps this sense of community alive.

What are you doing as the village manager to keep the momentum going?

We can’t do everything and we are not entertainment officers. Think about three things you can invest in over the next 12 months. Here is a list I refer to.

  1. Are you undertaking a regular walk around the village (my preference is on a weekly basis, to get out from behind the desk)?
  2. Do you stage a simple regular Village Manager morning/afternoon tea – using this opportunity to get to know residents on a one-on-one basis?
  3. Do you need a small budget to make contributions to kickstart events? Perhaps ask the operator as it will build goodwill for the village.
  4. Check the social club/committee. Is it active and vibrant or losing its puff? Does it need new blood? Can you get involved for a period of time, suggesting bus events, Monday coffee meets for the men etc?
  5. Does the village have an objective, like raising money for the local surf lifesaving club or quilting for a women’s homeless shelter etc?
  6. Do you have a resident buddy system to accompany a new resident or reserved resident to activities within the village?
  7. Do you provide an opportunity for all residents to have a say in the items that are important to their lifestyle ie survey, informal meetings, suggestion box, feedback forms?
  8. Can you identify a common cause that can be worked on together by all of the resident community ie community market stall, Christmas event, rejuvenation of a garden area?

Pick just three as a start. My experience is a healthy village community makes a village manager’s job so much easier and rewarding.

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Key things to help you everyday Things to watch

Salespeople staying with the resident for first six months?

I had an interesting discussion with a leading lawyer in the retirement village sector this week.

When should the salesperson hand over responsibility for a customer?

At the moment once a customer says ‘I want to buy’ they are handed over to administration to process the paperwork and contract.

The lawyer says the salesperson has made all the offers on what a great value proposition the village presents, so perhaps they should be staying with the customer at least through to when the settling period is over to ensure their perceived promises are delivered.

This could be six months for some operators.

It’s an interesting idea. What do you think?

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Key things to help you everyday

Christmas village ‘To Do’ Check List, by Jodie Prosser

Whilst the Christmas decorations are up, the village choir is carolling and the Christmas celebrations are beginning in and around the village, the village manager’s work is not quite done.

Here are some hints and tips that might help ensure you have a peaceful Christmas season:

Getting in front of some risks

Schedule some time in the diary to disaster-proof your Christmas period:

  • In many states it is the commencement of fire season and unusual weather activities so it is a great time to review the Fire & Evacuation plans and even consider running an Evacuation drill reminder session for residents.
  • Review the emergency contact numbers for residents and remind them of when and what numbers they are to call for the different types of likely mishaps.
  • It is also an opportunity to make sure that you have access to resident’s emergency contact details.
  • Also the emergency numbers for support contractors during the Christmas period. Suggestion: put them in your phone or so they are easily accessible when off-site.
  • Confirm, test and communicate any phone diversions that may be put in place during the holiday period.
  • Ensure the CCTV and safety mechanisms in and around the village are working and have been serviced.
  • It even pays to check with service providers that assist with automated facilities such as automatic gates, lifts and automatic doors if there are emergency contact numbers for their services during the break.
  • If you are handing over to someone else, even within the organisation, during the break, make sure they are prepared for the likely emergencies that could occur, know where to find the required information, who to call, have access to the contact phone lists and are also contactable during this time.

Sales and marketing

  • Consider inviting depositors or potential residents to one of the Christmas activities.
  • Don’t stop marketing just because it is Christmas.
  • Ensure there is a plan for sales enquiries through the Christmas period, especially for those families that only come home once a year and this year is the year, they decide Mum needs to move.

General

  • Send a Christmas note and thank you to those that have made your job easier throughout the year; might be the plumber that drops everything when you have a hot water issue, the mail man that walks your mail into you on a rainy day, a personal carer that is always smiling and happy to help, or a helpful resident that puts away your office bins. There are generally those people around the village that do more than they have to make sure you thank them and wish them well for the holiday season.
  • Allow some time in your diary to do those tidy-up jobs you have been putting off during the year and get it off your to do list.

Finally, it should also be a great time of self-reflection of the many wonderful things that have occurred or been achieved in your village over the past year. Making a list of these can be rewarding. Perhaps consider sharing them with the residents in the last or first newsletter for the year.

Jodie Prosser

Jodie has 25 years experience managing retirement villages and is principal of Optimum Retirement Services

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Key things to help you everyday Things to watch

ResiRatings – now over 600 villages rated

We just completed the resident survey for three village operators. Vasey (NSW), BassCare (VIC) and The Henley On Broadwater (QLD). Plus Oak Tree topped up its previous research findings.

They all got great ResiRating results. Henley On Broadwater achieved 4.5 ResiRating stars, plus 94 Satisfaction.

This is what The Henley On Broadwater looks like on villages.com.au: https://www.villages.com.au/qld/southport/the-henley-on-broadwater-private-aged-care-11714

This is the story behind ResiRatings: https://www.villages.com.au/resirating/about-resirating

Want to know more? Ask Anna: annaa@docomemonday.com.au

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Key things to help you everyday Things to watch

AbiBird launches $10 ‘Duty of Care’ retirement village service at ITAC after VIC Coroner’s inquest

In our experience the residents of retirement villages are made up of three groups of people.

The first are outgoing and interested in every social activity. The second group occasionally attend events but keep their circle of friends pretty close. And the third are rarely seen.

This partly explains the sad events in a large Victorian Lendlease village where an elderly woman died but was not discovered for two weeks, despite having a weekly home care service. A very sad event.

The Coroner raised the question of ‘duty of care’. Under the Retirement Village Act residents must be ‘independent’, meaning they can look after themselves in every respect. But the reality is every village has a population of people with increasing frailty.

You will recall Aveo had the same challenge highlighted in the Four Corners program of a resident who had fallen in the hallway of his unit and his emergency call pendant was on the benchtop and he couldn’t reach it. He lay there for several days.

Here is a new solution. AbiBird is an advertiser with us but we think it’s worth mentioning that yesterday at the IT in Aged Care (ITAC) conference in Adelaide their new service for retirement villages was launched.

They will place one or two AbiBird movement sensors in a retirement village unit that can send out an SMS to a mobile phone or an email to the office that no movement is occurring when there should be. You can add a family member to this distribution as well.

The device can learn movement patterns or you can simply set fixed times, like first thing in the morning from 6am to midday.

There are no cameras or audio, so limited privacy challenges.

The cost is negotiable but let’s say $10 per month. There are no wires, no contracts etc and 4AA batteries last for 12 months.

This information is not up on their consumer website. If you want to learn more call or email James Tucker at AbiBird on 0408 725130 or jamest@abibird.com.au.

By the way, AbiBird is a uniquely Australian invention and is already being picked up in Germany and Ireland (of all places).