A taste of harmony

As part of Harmony Week last week, Baptistcare support staff gathered last Friday to share a meal.

Australian emu and kangaroo, New Zealand pavlova (there could be an argument about that!), Indonesian urap salad, Ghanian bean stew, Malaysian beef rendang, North Lancashire Quaker oat biscuits and Scottish shortbread were among some of the cultural treats enjoyed by staff.

Sampling the home cooked dishes of colleagues brought to light the wide range of cultures which make up our organisation and presented the opportunity to share stories of heritage.

Our Manager of Disability Services, Kwame Selormey described the experience as "a party in your mouth". He said the simple action of sharing a meal can begin to weave people and communities. "One person can create a meal, two people who share that meal can travel to each others' worlds."

Baptistcare's newly formed "Catalyst" group identified the opportunity to celebrate our organisation's cultural diversity. The group has been set up to create changes in the areas of diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities.

The dream continues

Forty years ago this year a small group of people from Baptist churches came together to begin planning the establishment of homes for the aged in Perth. Their dream reached reality on February 23, 1975 when stage one of the project was officially opened under the name of Gracewood. These first 26 independent units at Salter Point cost the exhorbitant sum (at the time), of $334,000 including furnishings.

This year Baptistcare celebrates 40 years since that first group of people began dreaming together about what could happen. We are now working on our Strategic Plan that takes us to 2016, under the title of "Our Brilliant Future".

As we celebrate the last 40 years we realise we have never stopped dreaming and the dream continues.

Just as a reminder here are our Strategic Objectives:

1. Person-centred services. We must deliver quality, person-centred services meeting the current and future needs of individuals, families and communities;

2. Financial Management. We must optimise the financial performance of the business to ensure a sustainable future and to enable philanthropic activity;

3. People. We must attract, develop and retain people with the right skills and the right attitude;

4. Stewardship. We must manage responsibly the resources and relationships entrusted to our care;

5. Advocacy. We must be an effective voice, advocating positive outcomes for individuals, families and communities.

Are you ready to celebrate?

This year is Baptistcare's 40th anniversary and we are encouraging each of our facilities and programmes to organise an event some time during the year with a 1970's theme. We'll be sending out packs to all areas to help you in planning this event.

In the week commencing March 26 we will be launching our Baptistcare Recognition Awards. This will be a very important part of our 40th anniversary year, because these inaugural awards will be presented at a special gala dinner on September 7.

During the week of the 26th we would like you to hold a morning tea or some opportunity at each Baptistcare facility and programme to launch the awards and make people aware of how they can participate.

There will be six awards, five that are based around our Baptistcare values and one other which is the CEO's award for leadership and advocacy.

This is a year to celebrate. Let's do that by recognising our colleagues who are putting Baptistcare's values into practice in their day to day work.

Are you listening?

Yesterday was our organisational orientation at Margaret River. I am always impressed at the way our people embrace the Baptistcare values and yesterday was no exception with staff there from Mirrambeena (Margaret River), William Carey Court (Busselton) and Hand in Hand South West.

I was challenged again at the thought that being able to contribute to someone's life involves really listening to them - to understand what makes them tick.

Keep up the good work!