Goodwin’s seniors’ health and wellness centre won the 2018 NSW/ACT Excellence in Age Services Award from peak body Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) at a ceremony in Sydney last night.
Goodwin Health and Wellness Centre was an Australian-first when it opened in 2014 as a hub of coordinated health services set within a retirement living village.
Goodwin had three finalists at last night’s awards ceremony:
The team at Goodwin Health and Wellness Centre, incorporating Goodwin Health Club, provide seniors with access to a hub of specialists in one location, which ensures that clients’ various health services support each other in the context of the person’s lifestyle and mental and physical health, rather than discrete diagnoses.
The multidisciplinary team includes a practice nurse, aged care nurse practitioner, GP, geriatrician, physiotherapist, and podiatrist. The Goodwin Health Club team includes our coach who is a qualified personal trainer, two registered nurses who assist with health assessments, an administrative assistant and the Centre’s physiotherapist.
“Their responsibility is to provide extra supports for our seniors’ health and wellbeing goals, helping them stay active and independent for as long as possible, promoting enablement, resilience, and preventative health measures to reduce falls risk, pain and social isolation; improve joint and muscle tone; and maintain cognitive function to improve overall quality of life.
“They also provide advice and support on pain management and living with chronic or complex conditions.
“The Health Club provides preventative health measures through fitness and wellbeing classes including yoga, weights and resistance,” says Sue.
Our health assessments have shown clients have gained noticeable improvement in balance, cardiovascular fitness, and muscle strength.
“This award is a well-deserved public acknowledgement of the great work we see every day from the team at the Centre. They truly value their clients, and are dedicated to the work,” says Sue.
Other finalists for Goodwin
Goodwin’s in-house influenza immunisation program is free for employees and volunteers, students and other contractors who regularly attend our residential aged care facilities. It follows best-practice according to Government research, and goes above government requirements. Goodwin made a significant commitment to train 11 on-staff nurses as ‘fully qualified immunisers’ through the College of Nursing. To encourage high uptake of the flu vaccine, there is a comprehensive annual education campaign with sessions provided at all employee meetings across all business areas. They cover myths and facts, herd immunity, what to expect of vaccination, and actions to take if you suspect you have influenza.
“I am pleased to report already this year over 280 staff have had a flu vaccination with more clinics for June and July I hope most staff will be vaccinated. Goodwin is aiming for 95% flu vaccination for staff and residents to boost our herd immunity and stop the spread of the flu virus,” says Goodwin Chief Executive, Sue Levy.
Goodwin’s finalist for the Organisation Award was our on-line Learning Management System (LMS) which went live in 2017.
Engagement and ownership of the Learning Management System was fostered and encouraged by way of a competition in which employees were invited to name the LMS. An overwhelming number of nominations showed employees were excited about the direction their learning was about to go in. The Goodwin Online Active Learning System (or GOALS for short), was the overall victor, as the positive and self- motivational name speaks for itself.
Goodwin’s on-line learning has now brought best-practice techniques and practices to every employee at their convenience. Most mandatory training is available on-line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with the primary learning material resourced and delivered via the Aged Care Channel (now known as Altura Learning). Altura Learning training is co-designed with industry experts, carries continuing professional development hours for our nursing professionals and provides on-line support.
“The mandatory training framework is delivered both annually, which covers core regulatory and legislative requirements, as well as monthly, which focuses more on the care needs and provision for our older persons,” says Sue.
“Goodwin is constantly striving to build on our quality care and services for seniors. I know GOALS gives Goodwin employees better skills and relevant knowledge to recognise individual needs and improve care standards and understanding of our residents and clients. Employees are paid for their time to undertake the mandatory training, and a one-off annual incentive payment is granted on timely completion of scheduled training,” says Sue.