Around the Traps EDITION NO 7 SPRING 2013

Spring is always a season I enjoy, whether it’s a day at the beach with my sons, a family picnic or just a stroll through the town, every-thing always seems so

much more alive, vibrant and busier in spring. Indeed, with the dramatic changes that have occurred in our organisation with the imple-mentation of our Montessori Model for De-mentia programme, the move towards our new corporate name – Star Aged Living Ltd; finalising of our new branding; the launch of Star Learning our Research and Education division and Star Community, our home care division, (to name just a few) … we have cer-tainly been very busy. This is all in addition to the changes we have had to make to ad-dress the dramatic reforms that have been occurring in our industry and that are now starting to take effect. However, it is impor-tant to note that at the end of this month while our business name will change to Star Aged Living Ltd, Star Gardens will continue to be the name of our residential division. There have also been some exciting changes occurring within our Specialist Memory Sup-port area (Violet) garden. With the most generous support of ‘Friends of Star Gar-

dens’, (an amazing group of volunteers who not only run the monthly family BBQs at Star Gardens but also do a considerable amount of fundraising for the direct benefit of our residents), our care staff, with a special men-tion to two of our amazing carers – Sabine and Emily Bordic, and the support from local businesses and people in our community, our Violet garden area has been completely transformed. Incorporating the planting of flowers that stimulate the senses, vegetables and herbs for cooking, a fantastic water fountain and a variety of bird feeders and garden ornaments, the area invokes tranquil-lity while providing plenty to do. I would like thank all of our staff, volunteers and wider community involved in this project, for all their hard work, vision, and ultimately their passion to make this area what it is today. In particular, I would like to say a special thank you to Sabine and Emily Bordic, Ray Ducat, Gayle Wilson and Ian and Rosemary Oakes, who not only sourced all the items but also undertook the enormous manual job of clearing and planting the gardens. Finally, I would like to thank all our staff and volunteers for your ongoing support in all as-pects of our organisation. The difference you make is invaluable to all our residents and their families – thank you.

A Word from Nigel

We have your future at heart!

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A special welcome to our new residents Esther, Trudy, Terry, Audrey Togne, Melvyn, Brenda, Audrey Heaton and their families, it’s lovely to have you here.

We look forward to you joining us at our various activities.

A Message from Annmarie

Hello everyone, Once again the coughs and colds are in abun- dance in the wider com- munity. It would be timely to remind every one that our older people are more vul-nerable to illness, particularly infectious out-breaks like influenza (flu) and gastroenteritis. These illnesses can also cause further com-plications like pneumonia and dehydration, which can in some cases be fatal. At Star Gardens, we strive to provide our residents with the highest quality of care and support. Part of this, is to ensure that exposure to harmful and contagious illnesses are limited. I would like to remind all our visitors that, while we appreciate and understand that you want to visit your loved ones as much as possible, if you have been in contact with someone who has been ill, or have recently been ill yourself, it is extremely important to delay your visit until you are completely clear. This limits the risk of your loved one becoming ill, or passing it on to staff and other residents. Some basic things to remember are:- Influenza is a highly infectious virus,

and is spread rapidly through droplets caused by sneezing or coughing.

Symptoms develop quickly (1-3 days after contact) and remain infectious for

up to 3-4 days after infection. Influenza is a particular risk if serious

illness and death to people over 65 years of age.

It is strongly recommended that you DO NOT visit Star Gardens if you have been in contact with someone with influenza-type symptoms or have experienced three or more of the following symptoms: fevers/chills, cough, muscle and joint pain, stuffy/runny nose, tiredness, headaches or sore throat. As always, if you have any questions about this or any other matter please don’t hesi-tate to call or come and see me. Annmarie Baigent, Care Manager

Star Gardens is pleased to offer residents the opportunity to enjoy a therapeutic

massage on-site by Toni Nicol. This will be available on a fortnightly basis.

Monday’s 9.30am -2.30pm

Massage

Hands, Feet or Arms 10 minutes for $13.00

Longer sessions available by appointment. Please speak to a supervisor to book.

Toni’s Monday Massage

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RESIDENTS MEETINGS

Held bi-monthly

NEXT MEETING

October 3

Resident families are

welcome to attend

Minutes from these meet-ings are placed on the cof-fee tables in Fern, on court notice boards and near the nurses station in Rainbow and Lily, near the weekly activities.

Comments or Concerns

If you have a comment, concerns, or compliments please fill out a Continu-ous Quality Improvement Form and place in the Im-provement Box that is lo-cated near Reception.

What’s On

Please watch your weekly program to keep updated on activities that interest you. All residents are wel-come to attend any of the activities they see on the program. If you need as-sistance to attend any of the activities please speak to the nurse in your area.

VOLUNTEERS

If you have some time to spare and would like to make a dif-ference in the lives of our residents, Star Gardens is always looking for volunteers. There are many ways to contribute, from reading to residents, assisting with outings or activities to teaching computer skills. If you have a special area of inter-est we are always keen to make use of your passion. We also have a “Friends of Star Gardens” group who are volunteers dedicated to fundraising and being involved in activities for the benefit of our residents.

Photo of the Month...

This picture, captured recently when one of our lovely staff brought in her dog “Benji” for a visit with Martin. Doesn’t it show just how much joy animals can give to our residents.

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More of the things we get up to…. Craft Mornings

A craft morning appears in Jessamine every fortnight or so with our volunteers Tracey, Coralyn, or Amanda. The keen group of crafters have been making rag strip place-mats and mats (with a loom), origami, card making as well as completing some knitting projects for others. There is lots of chatter but lots of work gets done too!! More volunteers are welcome to join us as the prepara-tion time dictates the fun time we can have…..

For the Love of Bingo

You may love it of hate it but it is here to stay at Star Gardens! A favourite of our residents with some stalwart followers. Why you may well ask? It is because of the many things that bingo can do for you and your brain that makes it the popular, simple game that it is OR maybe it is the chocolate prizes, who knows? It is an escape from the every day, good clean competition and a game of chance, concentration and hopefully chocolate. Hale BINGO!

Balloon Fun

Who agrees that balloons bring out the youngster in all of us? Dale Woodward, our local balloon artist who generously donates his time and brings joy to our residents with his amazing shapes and objects made from balloons. All for a spot of lunch or morn-ing tea!! You are an absolute champion Dale!! Thank you.

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More of the things we get up to….

On the 20th August, 15 (year 9) school students from Japan, joined by their Principal and teachers, visited Star Gardens. Based in Jimboomba on a school trip for a week, they really wanted to experience an Australian Residential Care facility to explore the similarities and differences from the ones they have in Japan. They also wanted to share some of their own culture with us. After a tour of Star Gardens, the students enjoyed a morning tea with our residents before the students gave a presentation on their village which is based in the Ohno-District in the Shira-kawa Village, some of their local traditions, food, and places of interest. It was extremely interesting to see their village and homes, (which are World Heritage listed), as it was nothing that we were used to seeing from the big cities in Japan. They then entertained us with a wonderful collection of tradi-tional Japanese songs and dance. After their performance, they had the opportunity to meet and chat with the audience and provided one-on-one demonstrations of their fantastic Ori-gami skills. They were most impressed with Star Gardens and could not get over how much space we had, how bright and airy everything felt and they were enthralled by all of our outdoor areas. They also commented on how active everyone was in comparison to their experiences in Aged Care in Japan (well done Balance Class!).

A Little Bit of Pampering

A service that the staff often provide for our residents can be to assist with basic nail care. Tasks such as filing or decorating fin-gernails can provide an enormous boost to your self esteem and help with a sense of “keeping up appearances”. It’s always nice to feel a bit special and enjoy a bit of a chat while sitting back and being spoilt for a mo-ment. To the right is a picture of Emily, one of our Care Staff giving Barbara, from Vio-let “a little bit of pampering”.

Shirakawa Village, courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Japanese Students from Shirakawa Village visit Residents

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Jumbo Fruits Word Challenge

Words

Apple Apricot Banana Cherry

Chokeberry Grape

Grapefruit Guava

Hawthorn Juneberry Kumquat Lemon Lime

Loquat Lychee

Mandarin Mango Medlar Melon Orange Papaya

Pawpaw Peach

Pineapple Plum

Pomegranate Quince Rowan Salak

Strawberry Tamarind Tangerine

On August 16th Star Gardens hosted a cocktail afternoon for residents, families and staff in the Rainbow café area for a very special guest. The “real life” Melbourne Cup, while visiting Beaudesert on it’s way around Australia joined us before the big race later in the year. What a thrill it was for residents and staff alike to be so close to a piece of Australian history. After a few anecdotes from the representative of Victorian Rac-ing, the cup was passed around for everyone to have a close look and the opportunity to have a photo with the racing icon was taken up by nearly everyone there. It was a terrific time with the weather turning on a beautiful afternoon and the kitchen putting on nibbles to go with our drinks. To hold the cup ($175,000 worth) we were all required to wear “the glove” and Col (bottom right) took the opportunity to do his Michael Jackson impersonation for everyone. A big thank you to the Beaudesert Race club for organising for the cup to come to Beaudesert and in-volving so many of the local groups in the day.

Melbourne Cup Visit

M X N Q N N C W Z C R K C X W V X R J M K N K V Q

Y K L N O G M R V H M N B A N A N A A L V R T P B

G T K R L C J W P A E P A R G M B W R E L G I Q X

N E C W E F B N N B X N P T V L Y T T Z P N Q T D

E N G H M J P D F N Q F A Z Z N B C K J E G A K J

E M T N E T A W T T M Y P W T H N M J A K U L L K

H P B B A R B Z E T A N A R G E M O P M Q K L F M

C K Q K I R R P N G J K Y K R W E P R M K M B H X

Y P L N T F O Y K Z L Y A H N K L Q U G W W D R T

L L O K R X H K V M R R R A B E P K K J Z W X Y G

J U Q P B N F C E R K X W J W H P H C Z T T R N N

Z M U Z J T T D E R D O Z D M R A K M P D R X T N

M N A L V R L H D Q R L L X Z K T R P Z E W D T M

K A T N T A C H G K F A P R I C O T R B J X X P Z

Z M N J R E D Y R C L M P W M F H A W T H O R N R

P R K G K K K J E N I R E G N A T A F Z P W L P C

M K X O O L D R U J X Y Z R K R R m P W X L t Q J

X R H N N X N E G N Y T K L L T L L C L Y R P T M

I C G N N R I C L Q E L V Z S R T I K L P E Y M R

C E T K G F R N W F W B B V Q M N M V Z A H Q T W

X D M Z Q Q A I A R R A E Y J P N E W C Q B N N N

B M V O G N M U F V X W P R T L D Y H X K A L A S

G T Q L N G A Q K C A R K W R T Z W K T R G X R T

R B N K T D T P T K F U B Q A Y L R T M L Y H W P

B P G R A P E F R U I T G T R P X R T W Q T N M B

Word Challenge

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Jumbo Fruits

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Birthday Greetings

September

Terrence Tamblyn Dorothy Nicol Edna Hockey

October

Esther Holcombe James Smith

Elizabeth Thazackerly

November Owen Zell

Audrey Togne

Wishes come true

Peace within

Contentment too

Love and good friends

Smiles and hugs

Every single day

These are just some

of the Birthday wishes

We’re sending your

way.

Church Services Anglican Church Morning service is the 1st Monday of the month at 9.30am in the Orchid Room.

Roman Catholic Afternoon service is the last Thursday of the month at 3.00pm in the Orchid Room.

Baptist Church Afternoon service is the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 3.00pm in Jessamine Lounge.

Old Friends Fellowship meet the 4th Monday of the month at the Anglican Church. The Star Gardens bus leaves from the main foyer at 9.00am returning before lunch.

Hairdresser The salon is open from 9am every Tuesday morning. Please see the carer in your area to make an appoint-ment.

Monthly BBQ Now held on the second Wednesday of the month. Please join us in the Rainbow Café area between 11.30 and 12.30 for our Resident and Family BBQ, hosted by Friends of Star Gardens. “Friends” as they are known by all here are volunteers dedicated to fundraising and being involved in activities for the benefit of our resi-dents. We look forward to seeing you there.

Rainbow Cafe Why not spend some time out of doors in our beautifully landscaped Rainbow Café area. This is the perfect place to meet with friends and family while enjoying a freshly brewed coffee from our self serve espresso machine or a cold drink from the vending machine.