Author: Antonia Norris

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Latest industry developments

More than 1,000 villages register for the Retirement Village Code of Conduct – implementing now

The new Code of Conduct is gathering speed.

Close to 50% of all villages across the country have now started the process of building the Code into their operations. Is yours one?

The Code of Conduct was jointly created by the Retirement Living Council and Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) as an industry initiative to further build retirement villages as responsible corporate and community citizens.

In simple terms, the Code is a statement that retirement villages operate ethically and it has guidelines with checks and balances to support you to deliver a consistent, high-quality experience for residents.

You will find it will make managing your village easier. Word from the field is that residents, especially resident committees, are appreciating the structure the Code brings to operations.

It kicked off on 1 January and villages have 12 months to get the guidelines in place.

Two important steps are ongoing training of village management, which our DCM Institute Professional Development program has been designed to deliver, and a survey of residents every 12 months checking up on very particular areas.

We have just designed this survey for you and it will be released in the next four to eight weeks after we have tested it.

You can learn more about the Code of Conduct HERE.

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Latest industry developments

Ageing in the right place – a retirement village?

Where do older Australians want to live? To make their home?

The Global Centre of Modern Ageing (GCMA), a grand name for the research unit at Flinders University in Adelaide, has researched 1000+ people over the age of 55, asking what they want in a home. The answer:

“A place where I am comfortable, safe and stress free. A place where I continue to age independently and to grow culturally and in experience. A place where I want to be.”

Sound familiar?

The research confirmed what we already know:

  • We desire to stay at home even if circumstances change or needs increase with age
  • We don’t plan for our physical ‘enablement’ to remain at home
  • Cost and location were extremely important in the decision to move
  • The balance between affordability and needs is a key challenge

And went on to say they had developed a framework known as the House, Home, Haven framework.

This model recognises we require a personalised approach to our individual solutions and we require a solution to have a humancentric approach.

The house provides safety and comfort and for some, is also a financial asset.

Bringing freedom, choice, independence, emotional safety, familiarity and individuality.

A sanctuary entwined with self and complete belonging. A seemingly irreplaceable ‘sense of place’.

It identifies seven distinct needs of older Australians:

Do you find yourself like me shouting “that’s us, pick me, choose a Retirement Village”. It’s obvious isn’t it?

BUT….

25% of the people surveyed felt there was a lack of viable alternatives to living at home.

What the…. no viable alternatives are you kidding?! 

Don’t Retirement Communities provide all of this? 

Clearly we in the sector know this but why doesn’t the wider community?

GCMA went on to say the opportunities for businesses lay in:

1. offering a personalised service and offering

2. being able to offer genuine and honest support

(This what we do as professional Village Managers and genuine people).

3. being able to really communicate the value of the housing option

This requires work by operators – and ourselves.

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Latest industry developments

State Village Management Professional Development kicks off in 18 days from now

Our 2020 DCM Institute PD days commence in Brisbane on 2 March, and then roll across the country.

All your surveys asked for more! So, you will see that we have increased the number PD days from three to four this year.

Some of the venues have changed because they couldn’t provide a big enough room. (After just 10 months, we now have 340 Village Managers enrolled).

For instance, we had 120 village managers at the Novotel Darling Harbour in Sydney last November and it was ‘squeezie’, so now we are at the five-star Hilton!

All the programs across each of the states and the speakers have been booked for the year as well.

Check out the program HERE. It’s not too late to join us.

And remember, if you are a Village Manager in NSW and you are a member of the DCM Institute, you, your operator and your village will have ticked the mandated training box for the new regs requiring compliance to the Rules of Conduct that commenced January 1st.

For all states, you will also comply with the voluntary Code of Conduct.

An easy solution plus delivering you great career development.

Hope to see you at a PD in March!

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Key things to help you everyday

“Beware of little expenses; a small leak can sink a ship!” — Benjamin Franklin

Capital expenditure budget planning.

There have been many many lessons I have learned in my retirement community management journey over the last couple of decades but of the most important has been, taking a very planned and careful approach to capital expenditure budget planning.

It’s the only way to avoid the headaches and the potential of future embarrassment.

If you are under QLD legislation and need to abide by the Quantity Surveyor requirements or in NSW where the new Asset Management Plan legislation this will dictate some of these steps for you.

Whether you are preparing per contractual requirements of Capital Replacement Funds or internally for operator funding – we need to start early, being consultative and thorough to head off what can easily induce great pain!

This list of tips looks long, but much of it is common sense – but easily missed. When planning to review your Capital Expenditure budget consider:

  • Consulting internal stakeholders – finance, development, senior managers to understand if they have “projects” that you are unaware of that may impact the budget
  • Consulting the resident community – this could be via resident committees, feedback process, survey results, focus group morning teas. I know a couple of great organisations that hold a strategic planning morning with their residents every second year to gain clarity on where the residents see the village needs in five to 10 years.
  • Undertake a thorough inspection of the village – if you are not confident in undertaking this process, consider the services of a quantity surveyor or building inspector to assist
  • Review Contractor arrangements and suggestions for future works
  • Check for new legislative requirements – not just Retirement Village Acts requirements
  • Consider market trends and consumer expectations to ensure the village remains attractive and in good repair
  • Allow enough time to get multiple quotes for projects
  • Review the number of repairs carefully, especially in NSW, whether there are items that should be replaced
  • Consider staging plan options for major works
  • Check resident agreements and internal policy requirements
  • Check lifespan specifications for major pieces of infrastructure
  • Consider timelines: the requirements next 12 months, three to five years and five to 10 years
  • Review time – once you have a draft budget completed – consult again – allow time and be prepared to do this a number of times

Capital expenditure in our sector has often been one of those ad hoc, non-focus areas of the business as the accountants often view it as a non return on investment. 

However another great lesson is the better the village is maintained and the asset improved the happier the residents, the more referrals, the quicker the sales and the higher the price!  Win win…

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Reporting Results

Retirement villages looking good at the Royal Commission

‘New thinking’ is emerging at the Royal Commission into Aged Care, and retirement villages are looking good!

The Commissioners have developed a model and specifications for housing and support for ageing Australians in the last 10 to 15 years of life.

Senior Counsel Assisting Peter Gray QC (pictured above) stated in Adelaide this week that there are eight key ideas proposed by the Commissioners on how the aged care system should be fundamentally changed.

The whole push is to get in early and support people years before they get truly old and frail.

Make their homes better to live in so they don’t have falls etc. Guide them to look after themselves better, and earlier, by having companionship, getting out more, getting ahead of illness.

The Commissioners want a supportive pathway for older Australians to age. They wish to separate accommodation and care as costs to the government and that care will start very early concentrating on wellness and reablement, for which the government will contribute funds.

Here is part of the list; I suggest you think how ‘retirement villages’ can deliver these services:

  • create a care stream for services delivered either in the home or in more flexible and less institutional forms of residential care
  • move to individualised funding for care matched to need within the care stream, irrespective of setting
  • streamline access to low intensity and cost-effective support services to support a large number of older people to retain their independence
  • (the government to) fund interventions to help restore functioning, provide respite and delay or prevent progression to more intensive forms of care
  • support older people and their families to understand the (aged care) system and get the services and care they need

Retirement villages provide separate accommodation. Village management can provide a ‘care concierge’. Villages can provide basic but good wellness centres – gyms etc.

Individualised funding is ideal for the retirement village sector.

Separate funding for accommodation and care is ideal for the retirement village sector.

An early ‘system navigator’ is ideal for the retirement village sector.

The role of the Village Manager will be vital in this vision, a genuine ‘value’ enhancement that will elevate it as a profession.

Exciting times.

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What the research tells us

DCM Institute 2020 Professional Development Days announced – expanded to four a year

We are pleased to confirm the dates and locations of our Village Management PD days for 2020.

Check your city above.

Listening to the positive feedback across 2019, we have increased the number PD days from three a year to four a year (with no increase in membership fees)

The increasing number of DCMI members – now 320 village and HO management – has also led us to book bigger venues. For instance, in Sydney we are moving from the Novotel Darling Harbour to the Hilton Sydney.

Remember, if you are in NSW, membership of the DCM Institute professional development program substantially covers training requirements under the new State government rules of conduct that commenced 1 January.

For all states, membership delivers the training requirements for the retirement village Code of Conduct, which also commenced 1 January.

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Things to watch

Save the new date – 10 & 11 August and join 300 of your peers at the VILLAGE SUMMIT

We have made the difficult decision to postpone the 2nd VILLAGE SUMMIT conference, scheduled for 20 and 21 February.

So many people in communities across Australia have been affected by the devastating bushfires and natural disasters, including our colleagues and their families.

We have taken the stance to move the conference to the later part of the year to allow time for communities to recover.  

The new date for our VILLAGE SUMMIT at the Sheraton Grand Sydney is Monday 10 & Tuesday 11 August.

We made this decision after significant consultation with delegates, operators and speakers. All supported the move and re-signed to join us for the new dates. (Thanks!)

We understand that it is not only the business and operations of villages that have been affected, but also village residents and their families, village staff and their families and importantly, their wider local communities.

We certainly apologise if this impacts you negatively, but we believe it is the appropriate action currently.

With everyone involved recommitting to August, the program continues to be ‘fabulous’.

Check it out HERE.

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Latest industry developments

Judy Martin elected Chair of Washington’s Global Ageing Network (GAN)

Many of our readers will have met Judy Martin at our DCMI professional development days.

Judy is our Director – Industry Engagement, and she has just been elected to lead the Global Ageing Network (GAN) which represents retirement living and aged care operators in 50 countries. It’s a big deal!

GAN is based in Washington DC. Judy’s fellow board members come from across the globe, including Switzerland, China, Uganda, South Africa, Canada and the USA.

Judy has been leading Australia’s international educational programs for 10 years and visited over 300 of the best villages and aged care homes across the world. She will be making several trips overseas this year, including the UK, Spain and Washington.

She brings us the latest international trends and ideas from across the world.  How lucky are we to have her on our team – and to have an Australian so honoured!

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Key things to help you everyday

You have the leadership skills so put them into action in 2020 and your community will reap the rewards…

I would like to share with you a few great tips from Janet Loli from the Forbes Coaches Council.  

Janet says: “Leadership development includes not necessarily learning new leadership skills but working consistently to practice the behaviours and skills that we know we should be practising but haven’t yet formed as habits.”

Some of us have great intentions and strive to be effective leaders but yet sometimes, due to pressure, not having enough time or resources or just being tired, impacts our performance. 

And sometimes our actions are not in alignment with the person we want to be or want to be known as.

Janet suggests perhaps in 2020 we focus on letting what we already know bloom, rather that leaving it to chance.

She says put pen to paper and write down a few areas you would like to shine as part of your 2020 goals and then reflect on it regularly.

Here is an example that looks so simple and obvious.

Leadership Capability:  I would like to be known as being a people-oriented leader

Actions required (tick these off in your mind on how you really rate): 

  • Take time to pause and talk with residents, and really listen 
  • Remember things that are important to individuals – birthdays, events, holidays etc (develop a system to help with this)
  • Acknowledge the contributions of residents/staff/volunteers – great or small (could be verbally or a small note/card)
  • Regularly seek out the thoughts opinions and ideas of residents/staff/volunteers
  • Hold back on judgement; acknowledge we all have a history that shapes our views
  • Act on your word, give your commitment and follow through (and develop a system to support this behaviour)

Try writing two or three of these and focus your 2020 actions and behaviours around them.

This will help move you from automatic reactions into a place of choosing your responses and your actions intentionally.

Come back every month and do a review; you will be amazed how much progress you will make and how good you will feel as a professional.

Remember: simple is good.

In February’s DCM Village Management Professional Development program we delve deeper into the Leadership skills, traits and capabilities that are required of a Village professional. 

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Latest industry developments

A timely reminder to review all things emergency/crisis management related

Emergencies have a way of identifying the cracks in the best-laid plans. Fire, floods, cyclones and now viruses!

The events of the last three months are certainly a timely reminder to us all of the emergency management responsibilities we hold as operators of retirement communities.

The start of the year is a great time to step back and review. Are our resources and plans ‘emergency ready’ and up to the level community expects?

Here is a quick checklist of some of the activities and resources you can review:

  • Training calendar requirements – first aid, CPR, fire warden, OHS/WHS
  • Check first aid kits are in date and fully stocked, plus set up a reminder to check them bi-monthly, or after use, PLUS additional items required – masks, water etc.
  • Service/check defibrillators
  • Emergency/Fire warden training – for staff and volunteer residents where appropriate
  • Test emergency/fire systems and setting up a regular schedule of testing
  • Recheck access and egress requirements
  • PEEPS – ‘Personal emergency evacuation plans’ should be reviewed for residents needing emergency services assistance and other priorities
  • Emergency drill scheduling – how often, how to encourage attendance, appropriate notice of the drill
  • Emergency lighting – check exit, solar, torches, battery-powered alternatives
  • Review of Emergency procedures – especially focus on limited or no power/internet/phone communications
  • Recheck exit accessibility – and alternate route maps
  • If the community is not safe to stay, what is the procedure to inform relatives, PLUS how will you communicate once it is safe to re-enter the community?
  • Understand and have a plan to use social media/websites in communication, to reach families and others

For some states, like NSW, this style of preparation is mandated – it must be done, and you must register and record all events.

If you have been through an ‘emergency’ and have learnings about reviewing resources and plans, please don’t hesitate to be in touch and I would be only too pleased to share them.