Sheila Mae Smith

Ingenia Communities’ Matt Fedrick and Sharon Manson honoured at National Retirement Living Summit

Matt Fedrick, Ingenia Lifestyle’s Development Director in Queensland, and Sharon Manson, Community Sales Manager at Ingenia Lifestyle Hervey Bay, Queensland, were honoured for their work at the National Retirement Living Summit on the Gold Coast.   “I think there is a real need for the creation of community and a commitment to transparency in the industry, which extends to advising potential residents to always consider, question and understand the options available when looking at any retirement community,” said Sharon, Salesperson of the Year.   “I approach our customers as if I was advising my own family – I believe that extra attention and openness ensures that customers and their families can feel confident in choosing the community that best suits their lifestyle needs.”   With Hervey Bay being a popular growth areas for downsizers and retirees, Sharon has one of the busiest sales positions in the sector.   Ingenia Communities General Manager Sales, Kate Melrose, said Sharon’s sustained high performance and initiative has been instrumental to the Ingenia Lifestyle’s success in Hervey Bay.   “Sharon's deep passion and compassion for customers combined with a highly strategic approach to match customer and product sets her apart,” Kate said.   “She has worked to build strong relationships with the wider Hervey Bay community, and within the Ingenia community is a valued leader who is always encouraging colleagues to develop themselves and inspiring her team to deliver their best for customers.”   Matt, who was awarded the title of Future Retirement Living Leader, was instrumental in introducing a new, more affordable style of home at Ingenia Lifestyle’s Chambers Pines community in Chambers Flats, Logan.   “The last two years have certainly been one of the most exciting, challenging and defining times to work in the property industry,” he said.   The project was recognised for its social and economic impact, providing an innovative solution centred around social and economic responsibilities to fill the housing affordability gap for people aged 50 and over.   “It’s important to me to encourage my team to embrace innovation and efficiency, and this work is demonstrated across large-scale deliverables such as the Chambers Pines Project and a similar project at Ingenia Lifestyle Hervey Bay,” he added.   “We have been able to introduce affordable housing in these areas, offering properties starting from $239,000 in the Hervey Bay region when the median house price for this area is around $420,000.”   Ingenia Communities CEO Simon Owen said Matt is highly regarded within the Ingenia business.   “Matt runs one of the largest and most profitable business units at Ingenia – our Queensland development business. He demonstrates great leadership in his role daily and constantly coaches and supports his team to be their best,” said Simon.   “He constantly seeks to challenge the status quo and bring new ways of thinking into the business – whether it is building methodology, addressing a new segment in the seniors housing market or repurposing a 40-year-old building.   “Both Matt and Sharon are tremendous assets to the Ingenia team and we are very proud to have their achievements recognised and celebrated by their industry peers and to support their continued success into the future.”

Why Stage 2 of Wesley Mission Queensland's Rosemount Village sold out

Wesley Mission Queensland (WMQ) has sold all the new two and three bedroom apartments in its Stage 2 release at Rosemount Retirement Village at Sinnnamon Park, 12km southwest of Brisbane's CBD.   The rapid takeup is in stark contrast to the slow take-up of Stage 1.   Stage 1 was one, two and three bedroom units and the market did not like the one-bedroom offerings. It is believed WMQ originally planned to build more one-bedroom units before realising the market had changed.    Three years later Stage 2 was released and the 33 two-bedroom and 17 three-bedroom homes have sold. Demand exceeded supply.   "Inside your new apartment, you’ll find a large balcony for entertaining, modern, light-filled areas, and open plan living with some apartments overlooking leafy tree tops or our village green," WMQ said on Facebook.   "Amenities include onsite café, heated pool, library, gym, cinema, and BBQ pavilion.   "The local cafés and cinema are only a 10-minute walk away or a 2-minute ride on our village bus."   To illustrate the market demand, WMQ sold the new two-bedroom units for $620,000, The median price for a two-bedroom apartment in the same suburb is $546,000.

Uniting NSW.ACT's new home on NSW South Coast honours the late Jack and Verna Symons

When Uniting NSW.ACT CEO Tracey Burton officially opened the Nowra Symons House on the NSW South Coast she paid tribute to the people it is named after.   Jack and Verna Symons, who moved their family to Nowra in 1958, were instrumental in the home's building.   The pair became involved in the Methodist church, now known as Uniting, knew there was a great need for care of the elderly.   Jack became involved with the church in developing the future aged care home as Verna raised money to pay for it. They spent their entire lives to raise enough funds for such a home - a dream realised 60 years later and after their deaths.   The couple's daughters Kay Sando and Roslyn Martin were asked to open Symons House.   "It's a real honour that we've been asked to come and cut the ribbon .... and the fact that it has been named after our parents," said Kay.   "They would have been very, very proud to have known that trhis happened, and to see the development of the whole complex now."   Symons House contains 30 new independent living apartments.       “The apartments complement the existing Uniting services in the area and include Retirement and Independent Living, Residential Aged Care, Home and Community Care and Counselling and Mediation services,” Uniting Head of Village Services, Keith Morgan, said.     As The SOURCE reported on 7 June, Uniting Nowra Symons House features affordable housing apartments for seniors to meet the needs of households requiring targeted support services and older people at risk of homelessness.   Uniting Director of Property and Housing, Simon Furness, said Nowra Symons House includes six new affordable housing apartments for seniors to meet the needs of households requiring targeted support services and older people at risk of homelessness.   “As a community service provider, Uniting NSW.ACT is also focused on providing essential community and housing support as part of our developments,” Mr Furness said.   “Uniting is proud to be part of helping to provide affordable housing and homelessness solutions. We support more government action to address this issue, including more investment in social housing and more targeted support services for older people at risk of homelessness.   “This is a fantastic example of Uniting using its property portfolio to provide quality accommodation for people from all stages of life, including vulnerable communities.”   “The development is a part of a continuum of care that creates ease of access between Uniting’s services including residential aged care and home and community care. “Uniting Symons House will further strengthen connection to community while creating outstanding and affordable seniors living for local residents to age in their local community."

Vitamin D Deficiency

For most Australians, the main source of vitamin D is from exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D is produced when our skin is exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) light from the sun. The amount of sun exposure required to produce adequate levels of vitamin D is relatively low. Many of our seniors are placed on vitamin D replacement in form of a little pill or three, and some have a Vitamin D 'shot' In saying that, you don't have to be old to be Vitamin D deficiant.  Groups at risk of vitamin D deficiency elderly and housebound or in residential care naturally dark skinned (darker skin reduces the penetration of UV light) affected by other medical conditions that can impact on your ability to absorb / process vitamin D babies of vitamin D deficient mothers

Susan Malone’s IMG China business recognised by the Victorian government

Two years a presence in China has paid off for Susan Malone’s Melbourne-based Independent Management Group. In June her company entered a 50-50 joint venture with the large Chinese retail/residential/commercial property developer Grand International Group (GIG) to form IMG China, a retirement village and aged care management company. The Victorian Government’s Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business, has just announced that IMG China has been appointed to develop and manage a 400 bed development in Jianxi Provence, followed by another 350 bed development in Xiaoyao Bay, Dalian.  Susan Malone’s Australian management business services both private and not-for-profit owned retirement villages plus she operates the Coast and Country village brand. She is now also general Manager of IMG China.

Making friends the old fashioned way

If you despair about online social networks, then have a look at this one.  It is called Meetup [www.meetup.com] and it’s a social networking site with an important difference: it connects people who want to make friends the old fashioned way, in person and offline. The strapline for Meetup is “neighbours getting together to learn something, do something, share something…” It works on the old tried and true formula for meeting people and establishing friendships – a combination of common interests and common location.  When you go to the website, you enter your location – a town, city, region or postcode – and you choose a distance from that location (it orginated in the US so the distances are in miles). The website will show you all the different social groups available for you to join in that area or you can search by category – things like ‘crafts and hobbies’, ‘games’, ‘food and drink’, ‘arts and culture’, ‘religion and beliefs’, ‘movements and politics’, ‘pets and animals’, ‘community and environment’, career and business’ and  ‘dancing’, to name but a few. For more, go to Frank & Earnest - the conversations of life.

Feel younger, live longer

Good news I expect? It was for me at least. The study says we control this ability to live longer because it is all in our heads; and this is backed up by numerous other studies. These UK researchers used data from a long term study on ageing which included 6,489 individuals. They asked them if they felt their actual age, or older, or three to four years younger. [Interestingly, the average chronological age of the group was 65.8 years while the average self-perceived age was 56.8 years.] After 99 months (just over 8 years), the researchers went back and checked how these people were going. They found that those who said they felt older than their actual age were 41 per cent more likely to have died than those who said they felt younger. For more, go to Frank & Earnest - the conversations of life.

Men & Retirement Checklist

For many men, going to work means so much more than just doing a job, and upon retiring many can find it difficult to deal with the loss of the challenge of the work itself, the relationship with colleagues, the respect of professional knowledge and the daily routine.Did you know that around 60% of men have no plans in regards to what they are going to do in retirement on the day they finish their job. Often men see their job as their identity and it can take three years or more to recover from this identity loss.Download the test by the psychologist Nancy Schlossberg to check if you are prepared for retirement. Answer yes or no to the statements below to indicate if you feel you ‘matter’ in each area.Men & Retirement Checklist

Elderly benefit from horse-sized animal therapy

Finding an 850kg horse in the corridor of an aged care facility isn’t something you’d expect, but a Queensland home has introduced horse therapy for its residents.The Bolton Clarke, facility in Townsville has been using animal therapy for several years with amazing results.Diversional therapist, Chezz Thompson, welcomed the idea of bringing Guv, a Clydesdale-cross-Percheron into the facility, however, she did not expect him to be so large.She says, "I was expecting pony-size but when it was a Clydesdale, my mouth dropped and even I was a bit intimidated, but our residents love him."Ms Thompson said the mental health outcomes have been extremely positive especially with residents that have a limited cognitive ability.Residents at the aged care facility book in advance to see Guvnor when he visits where they get the opportunity for a cuddle, a pat and a kiss. Ms Thompson says, “There’s some kind of mental connection especially with dementia patients who don’t look up.  Guv brings their eyes up”Guv’s had a couple of little accidents, but it just adds to the idea of mental health with added fertiliser.

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks

I’ve never really understood why we’re so quick to use the phrase, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”  Our elderly Springer Spaniel was as sharp as a tac right up until his last packet of Rich Tea biscuits, moments before he died, so I’ve always rallied against the idea that I can’t learn new stuff!So, to hear that Scott Morrison intends to spend $3 million to get 500 older Australians off welfare and into the workforce is encouraging, but ONLY $3 million?And why were they out of work in the first place at 55?Before you start sending your gratitude Mr Morrison’s way, he’s also pushing back against pressure to raise Newstart for over-55s.Social Services Minister, Anne Ruston says the ‘Try, Test and Learn’ program will help the government collect evidence on the best way to get older Australians back on track.She says the government will focus on trials across four main cities and provide counselling to mature Australian jobseekers and train them to work in the hospitality, aged care and small business sectors.All very positive you might think and I’m sure there are ‘mature’ Australians out there who will welcome the chance to retrain, but in all honesty as a ‘mature’ Australian, I don’t want to retrain!Now I’m not being stubborn or living in the past but I’m good at what I do. I have decades of experience AND believe it or not, learn new ‘stuff’ every day, so I find it rather patronising to see Ms Ruston’s comment in The Australian, “The Morrison government understands mature-age Australians face specific barriers to employment and we are investing in four projects to find new ways to support older people to get a job. We know older people who go on to working-age payments such as Newstart are more likely to stay on welfare for longer, so we are focused on finding ways to support these people back into the workforce.”Maybe I don’t speak for most ‘mature’ Australians, but I don’t need counselling or support. I need employers or dare I say it, HR recruitment departments to get over the ‘age’ thing!I’m sure the intentions are good, but the Government’s approach to ‘mature’ Australians being out of work is patronising and quite frankly the amount being spent to solve the problem ‘piffle’!So, Senator Ruston, go on, back the Sydney-based “Work Work” program to train up women to work in homeless shelters and in kitchen and hospitality, even ‘aged care’, but it doesn’t solve the problem.The real problem is ageism across the board, for men and women AND it works at the other end of the work life cycle. When you’re starting out it’s, “You’re too young and have no experience, when you’re over 50, ‘We can’t afford to pay for your level of experience’.I say keep your $3 million and spend it on inflexible employers who think being over 50 means you’re worthless.Can you tell I’m a bit cross about this?

“Age is Just a Number,”

At 81 years of age, Greek windsurfer Anastasia Gerolymatou will now have her name in the Guinness Book of Records after sailing from Skala, Kefalonia to Kyllini, located on the Pelopponesian Peninsula.The Greek grandmother crossed the eighteen nautical miles of the Aegean on her windsurfer in a nonstop trip of just six hours, after dreaming of it for forty years.Anastasia says she doesn’t believe in old age, it’s just a number.Her passion for windsurfing materialised at the age of 41 whilst she was on holiday with her family.  She saw a young man windsurfing, wandered down the beach and persuaded the man who was renting windsurfers to hire one to her and the rest is history.The lean, beautifully toned octogenarian says windsurfing is a sport that doesn’t pollute the sea in any way, as opposed to almost all other boating activities.And her advice to the younger generations, "Never give up, there’s a path through anything that life throws at you.”Anastasia has three grandchildren and says she continues to windsurf so they can remember me for what she’s accomplished.