#FurryFriendsofMiCare It's been a while since we last updated a story in this series but here's a snap from today of one of our Overbeek Lodge residents, Wayne, with his new furry friend, Kevin.
Young participants and staff learnt a lot about water safety and water rescue techniques at Altona Beach as part of a Life Saving Victoria water safety and activities program. We also played flags, beach soccer and used boogie boards in the waters. Thank you to our supporting partner, Life Saving Victoria, for making this a very fun and informative day at Altona Beach!
Late last year we held a toy drive and end of year morning tea at our Footscray office. Thanks to the support and generosity of our partner donors, Mentone Girls Grammar Refugee Toy Drive – (founder Chris Stenton), and Share the Dignity, we were able to give away 475 gifts to those in need in our community. The gifts included children's toys, dignity bags (handbags with toiletries and sanitary items), kettles, toasters, and bed sheets. Thank you to all our partners donors, staff, volunteers and every who has supported us in this project and has made it as successful as it was.
It's not every day one celebrates their 60th anniversary. Congratulations to Tony and Kay on their 60 years together and going! We had a lovely pink cake that one of our staff, Janina, made for them in the shape of a big 60. Tony and Kay both live at our Margriet Manor home in Kilsyth.
Plenty of sunshine and a nice crisp sea breeze in front of the waters for our Avondrust Lodge Elders, Trudy, Marie, Nellie, Franciska and one of our volunteers, Jack.
Braydon the magician put on a great magical performance for Elders at Margriet Manor in Kilsyth.
Our staff dressed up at our Halloween bingo for Elders last week at Prins Willem Alexander. Don't they all look smashing?
It's a bit spoooooooky! Elders at our homes in Victoria having a whole lot of fun dressing up to celebrate Halloween last week. Keep an eye out for our other Halloween snaps from our other homes!
Congratulations to our Kilsyth Facility Manager, Linda, for being award Most Valued Partner for August. Nominated by Empower Healthcare Regional Manager Mark Ngau, Linda was put forward for her genuine commitment and care towards her staff as well as acknowledging and recognising the Empower Team as part of their ‘family’. Family is a strong word and has so much meaning. The team at MiCare are super proud of you Linda, great achievement!
Maureen lending her expertise to create a number of flower arrangements which were displayed around the home! Beautiful job by Maureen and special thanks to The Flower Farm in Birkdale for donating these vibrant blooms.
We now have a microphone system set up so families can hear each other with Elders through the window. Margriet Manor Lifestyle Coordinator, Marianne's son has loaned us the equipment and installed it for us. Now Elders can hear families clearly through the window and also families can hear their loved ones from outside.
A little kookaburra friend visited our Overbeek Lodge Elders, Bea and Ellie this week.
A few snaps PWA Elders, Pieter, Sherry, Peggy, Isle and Joy, with Keisha the pony.
Thank you again to Debbie and her team at Fonzies Diner in Montrose for safely delivering these much appreciated care hampers to our retirement & independent living unit residents in Montrose and Kilsyth this month.
Rosa and Stella showing off their creative artistic skills at Prins Willem Alexander Lodge, Birkdale.
Lock down birthday: Elder Monica got a big surprise! Her family turning up to celebrate her 96th birthday, singing in the garden followed by lovely chat over the phone outside of her room at her home at Prins Willem Alexander, Birkdale.
#FurryFriendsofMiCare Hirdy and Eva taking a walk around Margriet Manor gardens
#FurryFriendsofMiCare Resident Marie's dog, Hirdy, and Eva, Margriet Manor's on-site Chief of Cuteness also known as our therapy dog at Margriet Manor, taking a leisurely stroll around the gardens.
Aged Care Employee Day at our home, Avondrust Lodge, in Carrum Downs. Aged Care Employee Day, Australia's biggest ever tribute to aged care staff. This year's theme is #ThanksforCaring recognises the more than 360,000 staff who are involved in caring for 1.3 million older Australians receiving age services. To celebrate our amazing kitchen team down in Seaford (thank you to Lindon and the team) baked cakes for our staff across our homes. Thank you to our staff at AL for your dedication and all the work you do everyday for our residents!
Anne turns 102! It did not feel so long ago when we celebrated Anne's 100th birthday at Margriet Manor and she was featured in the local newspaper. We had a lovely celebration with cake and balloons, and both her daughter and grand daughter safely came for a visit to wish her happy birthday through the window.
'Tis is the season to be jolly! Christmas in July snaps from Avondrust Lodge in Carrum Downs, Margriet Manor and Overbeek Lodge in Kilsyth.
Avondrust Lodge, Carrum Downs
Margriet Manor, Kilsyth
Overbeek Lodge, Kilsyth
Farm Day dress up day over at our Avondrust Lodge home in Carrum Downs. Pictured here is one of our resident Elders, Frank (far right) with some of our staff (all wearing their face masks as well!) dressed up in farm themed!
#FurryFriendsofMiCare series: If this doesn't make you smile we don't know what will!! Overbeek Lodge Elder, Hank, with Matilda the dog. Thank you to our OL Receptionist, Karen, for this great snap!
Our Executive Director, Petra (pictured above), sorting through gorgeous, vibrant native flowers for our Avondrust Lodge home in Carrum Downs.
Some local Birkdale talent in action! Thank you to Carola from our Birkdale, Brisbane Lifestyle team for taking this great snap of Elders picking up their paint brushes and getting in touch with their artistic sides.
In house MiCare made gowns and masks were distributed across our homes in Victoria. These gowns and masks are very fashionably modeled (above, from left to right) by our physiotherapist, Denis, Homemaker, Iris, and PCA, Alieisha, at Avondrust Lodge home in Carrum Downs. These gowns and masks were made for infectious outbreak training purposes.
Margriet Manor Elders having an absolute ball of a time exercising with pool noodles and baton streamers! Who needs fancy exercise equipment?!
National Volunteer Week is from 18 May to 24 May. This year it will be different than the other years but we still want to say a Big THANK YOU to all our volunteers at MiCare in Victoria and Queensland. For all the work you do for our residents, clients, staff and the broader community. To our visiting volunteers, thank you for doing the virtual visits at the moment and hopefully that can go back to face to face visits again soon. Great to see that all of you have picked it up really quickly and our clients' feedback is fantastic. Your help is much appreciated and valued. We hope to see you all soon, when restrictions due to the COVID-19 have been eased, and we are able to start the volunteering in all areas again. Stay healthy and stay safe and we will be thinking of you during National Volunteer Week. A big cheers to all of you!
Angela and her Social Support Group team had put together a beautiful Mother's Day hamper for our Chinese clients in our Social Support Groups.
Today is International Nurses Day! Thank you to our everyday nursing heroes at MiCare as well as all other nurses across Australia. Today is your day and today we especially recognise all your enduring efforts and continuous great work. To celebrate International Nurses Day our Prins Willem Alexander Lodge Manager, Julie Baker, handed out chocolates with a special message to thank all nursing staff for their hard work and dedication!
King's Day at MiCare! Koningsdag or King's Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 27 April, the date marks the birth of King Willem-Alexander. The Dutch royal family bears the name: House of Oranje. This literally means the colour orange. As a result it has become Holland’s national color. On King’s Day people wear orange clothes, often even donning orange wigs or make-up (Source: Holland tourism).
To view the full album of photos please click here to view on our official Facebook page!
Our iPads were put to work yesterday, with outstanding results! Thanks very much to the input from Kerri, our QSO and Carola, from our Lifestyle team who got the ball rolling!! Our first Elder was Beryl (pictured above) in Amalia who enjoyed a chat with her daughter. We look forward to many more conversations!
Happy Tuesday! We hope everyone stayed safe and had a swell Easter long weekend. Welcome to our latest edition in the #FurryFriendsofMiCare series: Eva (left) and Josie (right) eagerly awaiting people to pet them...making themselves very comfortable on the bench seat in the foyer.
On behalf of the MiCare Senior Management team, we sent out boxes of Lindt chocolates to our Residential Care staff as a huge thank you for their enduring efforts and continuous hard work even during this difficult time. Pictured here (first image, above) is one of our Margriet Manor staff members, Penni, and her box of goodies. MiCare would not be the same without its core foundation: our staff!
Following the latest recommendations from the Australian government all MiCare affiliated community events including the Brimbank Yarns Exhibition on Thursday, 19 March 2020 will be postponed until further notice. However, in regards to the Brimbank Yarns Exhibition, the exhibition display at the Artspace Gallery will still be accessible to the public for viewing from March 20. The Gallery opening hours are;
Thursday to Sunday 10 – 3pm (or by appointment).
Given the changing circumstances around issues of this pandemic it is advised that you contact us by email or phone prior to your planned visit.
Whilst we are greatly disappointed to have cancelled this much anticipated event, it is envisaged that an alternative opening will take place in due course.
You are invited to the opening exhibition of Brimbank Yarns at Sunshine Print Artspace — 29 Western Avenue, Sunshine VI 3020!
Fundraising for animal victims of the Australian bushfires
Margriet Manor Elders (from left to right) Marie, Bev and Wil, making slices to help fundraise much needed funds for the animal victims of the recent Australian bushfires. We are so very proud of our Elders!
Happy Lunar New Year! This year is the year of the rat. Here are some snaps taken of our Community Engagement Officer, Vivian, talking to Overbeek Lodge resident Elders about Lunar New Year traditions and culture.
Congratulations to Margriet Manor Elders, Lyle, winning 1st place and Dinnie, winning 2nd place, at the recent Lilydale & Yarra Valley Show. Amazing accomplishments!!
Colourful and vibrant snaps from the recent Victorian Seniors Month celebrations at our Prahran site. The celebration pays tribute to more than a million Victorians over 60 who make such a valuable contribution to our society #VicSeniorsMonth #SeniorsMonth
A big and kind thank you to Freemasons Victoria Middle Park Lodge for their generous $15,000 donation as their part of the contribution to the purchase of the Toyota HiAce minibus for transporting Elders and community members. Pictured above (from left to right) are MiCare's Program Development Manager, Angela, General Manager, Assets Services & Projects, Olaf, and David Hendel, Freemasons' Worshipful Lodge Master.
You are invited to MiCare's Eden Alternative Celebration this Friday 18th of October! Come along and meet Dr Bill Thomas, Co-founder of The Eden Alternative. There are two sessions you can choose to attend: Avondrust Lodge in Carrum Downs or Overbeek Lodge in Kilsyth. Please RSVP if you would like to attend according to the details in the event images above!
The Cultural Atlas is an educational resource providing comprehensive information on the cultural background of Australia's migrant populations. The aim is to improve social cohesion and promote inclusion in an increasingly culturally diverse society. The program is a great resource for educators, staff, communities and individuals alike to not only read about their culture but also engage and share customs and practices in other cultures.
We raised $1,632 last week at our Biggest Morning Tea at 741 Luxury Apartments in Kilsyth, Melbourne! We had a huge turn out of over 106 attendees. Thank you to all those who attended and donated to such a great cause. This was all made possible through the generous donations from residents at 741 and friends for the auction, general entries and stall sets up by those in our community including Margaret who had her home made jams and relishes for sale. All proceeds will help fund Cancer Council's life-saving research, prevention, support programs, and information.
MiCare's Program Development Manager, Angela, and Vivian, our Engagement Officer, were at the Rejoice Manningham Lunar New Year Fun Fair. There were lion dancing, food stalls and activities such as face painting and a jumping castle. The Hon Kevin Andrews MP was also happy to take a snap with the MiCare team.
Fun in the sun but not too much sun because this week has been a scorcher! Elders making their own sand castles, dipping their feet into the waters and having a snag for lunch! Thank you to our volunteers and lifestyle team for putting together such a fun activity!!
To keep up to date with all things happening at MiCare please follow our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn pages!
A total of 14 participants from MiCare's Chinese Social Groups (pictured above) visited Cooks Cottage and Conservatory in Fitzroy Gardens to celebrate Victorian Seniors Festival on 8 October 2018.
Here she talks about MiCare and what we are about as well as home care services and social support services available for Chinese seniors.