Footprints Recovery and Reablement Program Team has taken out the Team Award at the LASA Excellence in Age Services Awards 2021. LASA congratulated the Queensland winners of the awards for their commitment to care and making a difference in the lives of older people. The awards aim to promote and recognise excellence across the diverse age services industry.
The LASA Excellence in Age Services Awards celebrates the achievements and innovation of organisations, teams and individuals who empower and support older Australians.
Congratulations to Footprints Community for winning the Team Award category for its Recovery and Reablement Program team.
The multidisciplinary Recovery and Reablement team consists of a Social Worker, Occupational Therapist and a Health Worker, who encourage and support older people to play a more active role in their health care.
The program team aims to provide a holistic multidisciplinary approach to reduce social isolation, while contributing to an improved sense of purpose, autonomy and independence for participants.
The program has a strong focus on promoting functional and mental wellbeing, while allowing older Australians to live better through doing things that matter to them most.
LASA’s full media release is published below.
Queensland winners – Excellence in Age Services Awards
LASA congratulates the Queensland winners of the 2021 Excellence In Age Services Awards.
“The winners are exceptional and offer care and companionship for older Australians across the state,” said LASA CEO Sean Rooney.
“The Awards focus on great individuals and teams, recognising their excellence in looking after and making a big difference in the lives of elders.
“There is also innovation and imagination. It inspires carers and workers who support ageing well and honour and respect older people.”
There are five category winners: Rising Star, Individual, Next Gen Young Leader, Organisation and Team.
The Rising Star winner is Wayne Crase from Everglow Community Care, who became CEO of Everglow in 2017. Wayne has shaped the vision and strategic direction of Everglow.
By inspiring and developing a strong clinical, support services and a subcontractor workforce, Everglow continues to support frail, aged people to remain at home with their community.
He advocated for veterans in relation to a formal handover process between the Department of Health and Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure continuity of care for veterans moving to MyAgedCare.
He also advocated for our CALD members and clients to simply access to services via MyAgedCare and for veterans to have DVA approval for more panel members offering Veteran’s Home Care services after the withdrawal of providers in North Queensland.
The Individual winner is Lesley Schneider of Mercy Aged Care Services Central Queensland.
Lesley started with Mercy Aged Care in 1996 as a Personal Care Attendant, then became and Registered Nurse. She became the Manager of McAuley Place and her current position of Executive Officer/Director of Nursing.
She has developed an empathetic, team-based management style that emphasis the importance of valuing each others contributions and recognizing the inherent worth of all within the Mercy Aged Care Family, including the consumers and their families.
Lesley’s legacy is in the people she is leaving behind, in her nurturing of them they go on to nurture others and the industry is better and we are better people and clinicians because she was a part of aged care and because she was part of our lives.
The Next Gen Young Leader winner is Lucy West who works for Angels in Aprons, as a Carer Angle and a Care Coordinator. When Lucy talks about her clients, there’s an unmatchable twinkle in her eye.
She wants to make a difference in peoples lives and wants to gain as much knowledge as possible in order to do so. Lucy has undertaken a Bachelor of Nursing, due for completion in September this year.
Following countless letters of positive feedback and requests from clients, support from her degree and her inherit interest in holistic client-focused care, she has been promoted to Care Coordinator with Angels in Aprons.
This role truly encapsulates Lucy’s knowledge, passion and creativity that she describes as her “opportunity to give back to those that have supported her and her family and has motivated her to give aged care the service edge it requires.”
The Organisation winner is Blackall RangeCare Group, a not-for-profit organisation providing in-home community care services to aged and disabled residents living in the Sunshine Coast and the Hinterland region.
Blackall RangeCare is a business that thrives, exisitng to help our clients live independent and purposeful lives at home, and we do this by demonstrating kindness, empathy, and compassion.
When the initial COVID-19 lockdown, RangeCare needed to find a way to keep its 150 staff members employed to support the 2,000 elderly and disabled clients. They gave local meal delivery services, a butcher meat and a fruit and vegetable pack, an in-home haircut and beard trimming service, and an iPad loan service including free internet and tuition. This later expanded into an in-home technology support service.
The Team winner is Footprints Recovery and the Reablement Program Team
This program is designed to provide a holistic multidisciplinary evidence-based approach to address any decline in a person’s function or mental wellbeing that may have occurred as a result of a pandemic, including trauma informed practice and health promotion.
The additional intention of this program is to reduce the impact of social isolation and enhance social connection in a safe manner. The Recovery and Reablement Program multidisciplinary team consists of a Social Worker, Occupational Therapist and a Health Worker.
This intervention is designed to empower and support individuals to play a more active role in their health care adopting a wellness and reablement approach.
The Excellence In Age Services Awards are sponsored by HESTA.