What is a community?

Last Thursday, about 80 leaders within Baptistcare spent the day reflecting on the meaning of our organisation's tagline, "Communities for Life". Peter Kenyon of the Bank of IDEAS facilitated the day, helping us to think about the sort of things that make a community.

During the day it became necessary to mobilise a number of buses to go to Margaret River to evacuate residents at our residential aged care facility, Mirrambeena, as a result of the bushfires that were threatening the town. As buses and their drivers were organised, and planning was set in place for the evacuation, it became evident that this was what community is all about.

It is a privilege to be a part of an organisation where people at all levels and all different areas of responsibility, are able to come together to achieve a common purpose.

Well done to all who were involved in this project, especially our staff at Margaret River, who had their own personal worries and fears to deal with in the process, and who worked long hours to ensure that our residents were safe and well. Our Mirrambeena Residents were taken to Baptistcare's facilities at Busselton and Manjimup and to Capecare's facility in Busselton which meant additional support being provided at those sites. Congratulations and thanks to all those who contributed in any way to make this possible.

Connecting with Homelessness

Last week six Baptistcare staff volunteered at Homeless Connect. They were among about 200 volunteers who contributed to this special day providing a "one stop shop" for people who are homeless or are at risk of homelessness.

During the day I spoke with a man who has been on the streets for 16 years. This is a way of life and Homeless Connect was a nice diversion. When I asked him why he came along, his simple and very telling answer was that this was his backyard.

It was a privilege to be able to offer support in a simple, yet effective way for so many people living on the streets of Perth.

Thankyou to all those at Baptistcare who volunteered for this event and donated toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Taking the Pulse

What does the culture of an organisation look like? Sometimes it’s hard to put your finger on it, because it seems to be more like a gut feeling you get when you wake up in the morning…. “I just can’t wait to get to work to do the things I love doing” … or, “oh dear, it’s another day at the salt mines”.

At Baptistcare we want to try and put our finger on the pulse of the organisation so that we have the ability to take whatever steps are required to ensure that our culture continues to be healthy into the future. To achieve that we will be running a culture survey. In the next few days and weeks you will be hearing a lot more about this and I encourage you to find out about it and become involved. It’s a way that every person in Baptistcare can contribute to their workplace.

In my recent blogs I’ve spent time talking about person-centredness which we believe is an important part of our culture. One of our initiatives in Baptistcare has been the person-centred review committee which acts a bit like a watchdog to help us in achieving these goals. Recently we invited Kerry Allan-Zinner on to this committee as a community representative.

I am thrilled to say that last week Kerry’s business, Another Angle Consulting and Training, won the Karl Farrell Inspiration Business Award at the Belmont Small Business Awards. This is a great achievement, and I encourage you to look at Kerry’s website http://www.anotherangle.com.au/ , to get an understanding of how inspirational she is as a business-person and a leader. Congratulations Kerry.