Tag: LASA

Categories
Key things to help you everyday Latest industry developments

The Retirement Living ‘Code of Conduct’ turns one, plus a useful tool to help your village stay compliant in 2021

The Retirement Living Code of Conduct celebrated its first birthday last week. 

The new code for retirement villages was developed by the Property Council and LASA to give customers confidence in village management and operations.

Ben Myers from the Property Council said they’ve been thrilled to see almost 50 per cent of retirement villages participate and sign on.

This is despite obvious external pressure from COVID.

You’ve got to say it’s a real win for the sector.

“This year we will be increasing awareness of the Code to grow the number of subscribers,” Ben says.

“We have set an ambitious target of 75 per cent take up in the industry. This would seriously demonstrate the industry’s commitment to residents and to robust self-regulation.”

We here at the DCM Institute strongly support the Code of Conduct industry framework, and believe it supports best practice village operation, staff retention and resident satisfaction.

This is why we’ve provided plenty of info in our village manager professional development program to supply knowledge, guidance and resources to fast-track compliance with the code.

Keep an eye out for a new tool to be released in our 2021 program.

The Code of Conduct Gap Analysis tool can be used in conjunction with the Code Implementation plan. These resources help operators progress in their compliance of the code in2021.

You can find out more about our professional development program, and how it will help keep your village compliant here.

Categories
Latest industry developments

LASA announces its Retirement Village Manager of the Year for 2020 – and three of the five finalists were members of the DCM Institute!

We love acknowledging the good work that’s going on in villages around Australia.

So we were absolutely thrilled when we learned that Lauren Jackson-Brown (pictured right) from Linton Village RSL Lifecare in Yass, New South Wales, had been named Leading Aged Service Australia’s (LASA) Retirement Village Manager of the Year 2020.

Lauren does some great work at her village, and was praised for her strong leadership skills and ability to maintain a vibrant village environment.

The five finalists were:

  1. Lauren Jackson-Brown – RSL Lifecare NSW
  2. Lean Patterson – SCC TAS
  3. Janine Thompson – Brightwater WA
  4. Sarah Mosconi – Bethanie, WA
  5. Catherine Montgomery – Cranbrook Residences, NSW

And it’s worth noting that Lauren, Janine and Sarah are part of the DCM Institute family, taking part in our professional development program in village management.

That’s three out of five finalists!

The awards are designed to recognise how diverse and dynamic our village professional roles are, and people like Lauren provide a great example for the rest of the industry.

Congratulations Lauren!

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

People – the most important investment a retirement village will make!

At LASA’s National Integrated Seniors Housing conference, I had an opportunity to conduct a poll about the topics keeping village professionals up at night.

For over 50%, it was the best way to provide support for their residents.

This discussion led me to consider two things:

  • Are we expecting too much from Village Professionals?
  • What can be done to support them in their roles?

A Village Professional is expected to be a property manager, financial analyst, social worker, meditator, allied health advisor, lifestyle coordinator, social secretary, compliance manager, administrator, communications specialist, marketer, sales consultant and often hospitality manager of food and linen services.

More often than not those that succeed as great village managers are problem solvers, people that like people, doers, charmers, givers, forgivers, ideas people and those that have strong tenacity, integrity and a huge sense of humour!

But there’s also a troubling amount of churn in the sector today, whether this is through burn out, lack of support or finding the sector is just not for them.

So, what can leaders in the sector do to support these very important professionals?

Right systems, right knowledge, right support

Nadine White (pictured right), General Manager Retirement Villages and Sales at WA sector leader Bethanie, is using the DCM Institute Professional Development Program as a content platform.

To do this, Nadine has developed a One Time One Voice training calendar.

This calendar schedules dedicated time for team meetings, combined sales and operations meetings, Policy and Procedure discussions, and importantly ongoing professional development.

This calendar schedules dedicated time for team meetings, combined sales and operations meetings, Policy and Procedure discussions, and importantly ongoing professional development.

The Bethanie team uses the DCMI Knowledge Centre as the basis for their professional development.  Nadine schedules a topic each month for the team to complete individually through the DCMI online portal.

This topic then forms the basis for the team’s professional development discussion, which assists to cement the learning and drive continuous improvement in the organisation.  

Personally, I believe this kind of initiative and commitment will drive some very important outcomes for Bethanie and the sector as a whole:

  • Increase knowledge of those serving residents at the front line
  • Continue to develop trusted relationships with residents
  • Increase retention of those within the sector
  • Drive opportunity for individual and workforce growth
  • Establish high standards amongst operators and their teams
  • Establish village professional roles as desirable careers
Categories
Latest industry developments

The new Australian Retirement Village Accreditation scheme has been launched

ARVAS replaces the Lifemark and IRCAS accreditation programs. 

This new village accreditation scheme is co-owned by the Property Council of Australia and Leading Age Services Australia (LASA).

It will focus on the expectations of both existing and future residents who choose to live in your retirement villages across all states and territories.

ARVAS will offer more robust quality and operational processes that incorporate six traditional areas, and a new quality area of resident care.

The seven areas are:    

  • Community Management
  • Human Resource Management
  • Resident Entry and Exit
  • Resident Engagement and Feedback
  • Environment, Services and Facilities
  • Safety and Security
  • Resident Care (if applicable)

The new scheme is an extension to the existing Retirement Living Code of Conduct aimed at creating certainty and transparency for those living in retirement communities, including dispute resolution.

Your operator needs to decide to engage with ARVAS for your village.

Download the ARVAS standards here.

Here at the DCM Institute, we recognise the importance of the Retirement Living Code of Conduct and ARVAS.  We encourage Village professionals to start familiarising yourselves with these frameworks, encourage your operator to participate and begin planning.

And remember, the DCM Institute continues to provide support and tools to enable participants in the Village Manager Professional Development program to better understand and achieve quality standards and processes for their communities.

Jodie

Categories
Reporting Results

Jessica Maddern wins LASA Village Manager of the Year

A hands on approach and diligence in responding to the concerns of residents are just some of the qualities of LASA Retirement Village Manager of the Year for 2019 Jessica Maddern.

Jessica is the Operations Manager of De Paul Manor Estate, a 79-unit village on the Gold Coast.

Since Jessica took on the role, the Gold Coast village has seen a huge improvement in resident satisfaction, largely due to her professional and friendly approach.

Jessica joined the village part-time as a student finishing her social work degree and took on her current role aged 24. ​

Being a young village manager was both an asset and a challenge – on one hand the residents trusted her, enjoyed her enthusiasm and were grateful for her IT skills. 

But in the early days, residents wrote letters of concern to the Parish and Bishop that she was too young for the role. 

Today however, resident engagement is her absolute priority.

We would also like to acknowledge and congratulate the following finalists:

  • Jack Greathead – Village Manager at Wesley Mission Qld’s Wheller on the Park in Brisbane – VMPD Program member.
  • Vanessa Nugent – Manager at Bolton Clarke’s Westhaven Retirement Village in Toowoomba – VMPD Program member.
  • Deborah Luscombe – Retirement Village Manager at Mt Eymard Retirement Community in Bowral.
  • Raylene Trewartha – Resident Liaison Manager at Good Shepherd Village in Mackay.

Jess will be joining us on the Village Management Professional Development program, as part of her reward. 

Jodie

Categories
What the research tells us

DCM Institute and LASA align to support Village Managers with career progression

The DCM Village Manager Professional Development and Peer Network Program is a national program providing access to ongoing professional development and support developed and delivered by industry experts.

Launched in April, the program already has over 180 members.

We encourage LASA members to join the program which we are proud to announce is endorsed by LASA and participants will receive recognition of prior learning (RPL) directly into LASA’s Diploma of Leadership & Management conducted through LASA’s registered training institute – http://lasa.asn.au/training.

For more information contact:

LASA: Paul Murphy, PaulM@lasa.asn.au
DCM Institute: Judy Martin,
judym@dcmmedia.com.au

Jodie