Part 1

Care Services  1999-2000

Graham Towle
Care Services

	overview
	mission centres
	results in summary
	superintendent's report
	care services
	community services
	pastoral services
	corporate services
	financial summaries

Aged Care Services

Key Strategies

1. Revise structure of division to enhance efficiency and effectiveness
2. Transfer services from one division to another, to ensure better allocation of resources and a more streamlined approach to service provision
3. Secure funding and expand services to meet increased areas of demand
4. Obtain accreditation to ensure best practice is maintained
5. Develop a strategic approach to resource and personnel development
6. Provide opportunities for clients to enjoy quality of life
7. Carry out rebuilding and extension work at various centres
8. Identify and pursue opportunities for industry networking

Aged Care Services

Key Result Areas

• 1.1 Three new senior manager positions created
• 2.1 Existing programs transferred from Community Services to Care Services, to ensure better integration
• 3.1 Wesley Home Care obtains $10,000 from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, for Community Aged Care Packages (CACP)
• 4.1 Various aged care facilities gain accreditation, including Frank Vickery Village, Alan Walker Village, RJ Willliams Lodge, Tebbutt Lodge and Hoban House
• 4.2 Alan Walker Village becomes first Mission-run retirement village to gain ISO 9002 accreditation
• 5.1 Master Plan for aged care facilities developed and approved
• 6.1 Trip to Bowral Tulip Festival organised for Wesley Home Care clients
• 6.2 Wesley Home Care video/game library established
• 7.1 New, expanded facilities constructed at Frank Vickery Village and Alan Walker Village
• 8.1 Manager of Frank Vickery Village appointed to State Government Advisory Council
• 8.2 Local Federal MP Bruce Baird presented funding cheque to Wesley Home Care staff

Counselling Services

Key Strategies

1. Establish centres/services to meet new areas of need
2. Maintain toll-free credit helpline telephone service
3. Identify needs within the community and respond appropriately
4. Equip people with the skills to respond to community needs
5. Secure new sources of funding
6. Offer support and care to people unable to pay for it

Counselling Services

Key Result Areas

• 1.1 CreditLine established branch at Westlake Macquarie
• 1.2 Wesley Community Legal Service doubles in size
• 1.3 Face-to-face outreach services set up at Quakers Hill, Maroubra and Emu Plains
• 2.1 Number of calls to toll-free phone service increased by 25 per cent
• 3.1 World’s first Gambling Legal Service established
• 3.2 Joint project established with Country Women’s Association in Victoria, leads to 1000 people being trained in suicide prevention
• 4.1 More than 120 volunteers serve as Lifeline counsellors
• 4.2 Two bi-lingual counsellors appointed to Wesley Gambling Counselling Services to serve Chinese and Korean communities
• 4.3 Responsible gambling training provided to gambling industry workers
• 5.1 Lifeline raised $8000 from first bookfair and $30,000 from Life’s A Ball event
• 5.2 Sponsorship for LifeForce obtained from ONE-Tel ($100,000), LG ($75,000) and the Federal Government ($100,000)
• 6.1 Hospital/health services provide $245,000 worth of free services to clients
• 6.2 Lifeline offers free face-to-face counselling

Dalmar

Key Strategies

1. Highlight expertise to wider community
2. Implement preventative strategies
3. Develop new programs to address areas of need
4. Create innovative ways of working
5. Foster links with major partners

Dalmar

Key Result Areas

• 1.1 Seminar conducted on Stolen Generations
• 1.2 Dalmar staff presented paper at Family Therapy conference
• 1.3 Out-of-Home Care clients attended conference as panelists
• 2.1 Reaching Out worked with 26 families to provide support and prevent homelessness
• 2.2 Run workshops to help parents prevent drug use among children
• 3.1 Quakers Hill Family Services set up programs for child victims of domestic violence and family breakdown
• 3.2 Generations Connect program established to provide support to isolated parents
• 4.1 Gambling support service on Central Coast negotiated free use of outreach premises in Warnervale and Wyong, to enhance accessibility for clients in isolated areas
• 4.2 Outreach services provided to Kellyville and Rouse Hill areas
• 5.1 Westpac staff paint Gateway Cottage saving $10,000
• 5.2 Gaming and Racing Minister Richard Face allocates funding for Central Coast gambling counselling program
• 5.3 Joint venture with Lindara provides medium-term supported accommodation for four families

Focus Point

This year Dalmar Hawkesbury/Nepean successfully tendered for one of the Federal Government’s Reconnect programs. Reaching Out was established to service the Penrith, Blue Mountains, and Hawkesbury areas

Aimed at young people who are at risk of becoming homelessness, the service provides mediation and counselling as well as help with accommodation, education, employment, crisis intervention, family reconciliation and health issues

From its inception in March 2000, staff from this early intervention program worked with 26 families. At the heart of our work was providing options to young people and their families who were in conflict, by providing support, working through the key issues, and promoting healthier relationships and patterns of communication. To this end, we aim to reduce the increasing level of youth homelessness by promoting and facilitating family reconciliation

After 18 months of investigations, visits to new aged care facilities across NSW, and numerous meetings with architects, senior staff of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care and Uniting Ministry with the Ageing, the Wesley Mission Board adopted a master plan for the redevelopment and rebuilding of all of our aged care facilities. The plan provides the blueprint for a complete refurbishment of all Wesley Mission’s aged care centres, over the next five years, at a cost of nearly $30 million.

The other main focus for aged care during 1999/2000 was preparing for accreditation of all facilities.

A restructure of Care Services during the year saw the promotion of three Managers - Tracy Carr, Bernard McNair and Trevor Wight - to the roles of Senior Managers. Each is now responsible for a particular department within Care Services, namely Aged Care Services, Health & Counselling Services and Child & Family Services respectively.

The year also saw movement of key staff. A new Research and Development position was created. This role was responsible for the research and development of the overall direction of the aged care division. New managers began at Charlie Woodward Lodge and WG Taylor Village, while Charlie Woodward Lodge was placed under Wesley Home Care, as part of its homeless persons’ program.

During the year, School for Seniors, Lifeline, Creditline, Gambling Counselling Services and LifeForce Suicide Prevention Program were all transferred from Community Services to Care Services.

Expansion in services occurred in all areas of our ministry in Care Services during the year. The growth which took place was made possible with the support of loyal and dedicated staff and volunteers.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the many government departments and agencies with whom we come in contact, and to our benefactors and donors who make so much of our work possible.

The following pages outline the achievements of the past year. We praise God for the opportunities given to each one of us to assist so many people in need.

Graham Towle

Aged Care

1. Frank Vickery Village

Frank Vickery Village is the largest Uniting Church retirement village in NSW, providing accommodation for 275 self-care residents (soon to increase to 315), and 67 low care (hostel) residents. The village also is funded for, and administers, 40 Community Aged Care Packages for the benefit of residents in self-care accommodation.

Developments which took place at Frank Vickery Village during the year, included:

• The near completion of the last stage of a 15-year building program in self-care. This involved adding 36 units, building an auditorium for 250 people, expanding the dining room and providing additional office space, training facilities, maintenance workshop and a bowling green for residents’ use.
• The construction of 10 new hostel units, and the relocation of 10 existing residents into those units in preparation for a major refurbishment within the existing building.
• We increased chaplaincy hours by appointing Reverend Veneeta Singh-Lucas.
• The implementation of a new computer network and data base has brought significant improvements in information and communication systems.

The next 12 months will see the challenge of marketing the new units (in addition to the 20 which will become available from existing facilities).

2. W.G. Taylor Village

Located between Narrabeen Beach and the lake, W.G. Taylor Village is a highly sought after aged care facility, consisting of 34 self care units and 65 hostel units. Two hostel units are used for short-term respite purposes. The village provides an intimate, peaceful and spiritual environment for its residents and the year 2000 saw the hostel achieve full accreditation for three years.

Our annual fair attracted a strong community patronage, with delegates from local government attending. The Minister for Aged Care, Bronwyn Bishop, also supported village functions.

Chaplaincy services to Taylor Village increased, with both residents and staff members appreciating the spiritual support and guidance available. Regular church services and Bible studies are conducted and residents are supported with home and hospital visitation.

The residents’ car provided an extension to services offered by Taylor Village. With the support of volunteer drivers, we were better able to assist residents with medical and associated health appointments.

3. Alan Walker Village

Named after a former Superintendent of Wesley Mission, Alan Walker Village is a retirement village at Carlingford, with capacity for 207 people.

There was considerable movement of residents in and out of Alan Walker Village, resulting in an influx of new ideas and enthusiasm.

An additional 24 units were completed, bringing our capacity to 207. There is considerable interest in the new property so it is expected they will be quickly occupied.

The Community Aged Care Packages within the village enabled us to provide a longer term support service to our residents in their own units. Currently, 24 residents are cared for through these packages and this enables us to help people to remain within the village until they require high level nursing care.

The village gardens were extensively rejuvenated by staff from Wesley Mission’s David Morgan Complete Garden Services.

Residents took part in computer training, with up to 40 people attending every week. These classes will continue in a permanent classroom set up in the new facility (the facility also will be hired out to Wesley Mission’s School for Seniors program, to conduct classes on Saturdays).

4. F.H. Rayward Lodge

Our largest nursing home, F.H.Rayward Lodge was closed as a part of Wesley Mission’s building master plan. It was decided to construct a purpose-built facility at Carlingford.

The closure began in December 1999 and was completed by June 30, 2000. All residents were supported until they were placed in new homes. Ironically, many staff found new jobs in the same places some residents accepted. Other staff were able to stay with Wesley Mission in alternative centres.

5. R.J. Williams Lodge

R.J. Williams Lodge is an 82-bed, low level care facility in Glebe. It is unique because some residents suffer from some form of psychiatric condition, rather than being frail aged. The mix of people, young and old, continue to make it a challenging and exciting place to live and work.

Most of the past year was spent preparing for accreditation and a successful audit took place in August 2000.

A highlight of the year was welcoming a number of new residents who transferred from Wesley Private Hospital. These people had lived in the hospital’s “annex” for many years. With a few changes to the programs offered, we were able to accommodate them and provide a suitable, alternative home.

6. Hoban House

Hoban House is a low-level aged care facility at Pagewood. Staff and volunteers care for 47 frail aged men and women, many of whom suffer dementia, and an increasing proportion of whom suffer some form of psychiatric illness.

During the year students from four different secondary schools spent time at Hoban House as part of their Community Service curriculum. Without exception, these visits proved beneficial to the students and the residents.

7. H.C. Foreman Lodge

H.C. Foreman Lodge is a 44-bed, high level aged care facility. Residents range in age from 45 to 99.

Our sole respite bed was utilised fully throughout the year. This service provides support for families endeavouring to manage frail or aged relatives at home. A short break and relief from the rigors of 24-hour care enables families to regain their strength and create a bond with our establishment that makes the inevitable admission less traumatic.

Residents who come to us are increasingly frail and present multiple challenges in meeting their care needs. Despite this industry wide trend, our rehabilitation program has seen three residents transfer to hostel and two return home. Currently we have one couple, married for 70 years, sharing a room (aptly called the honeymoon suite) and able to share their remaining years together.

Projects related to meeting the aged care standards and achieving accreditation. A three year accreditation was achieved in August while a well trained, committed and effective occupational health and safety committee, under Margaret Harris, helped us achieve a commendable rating from the Accreditation and Standards Agency.

Extensive trials and evaluations of the gentle therapies program, introduced last year, involving aromatherapy, massage, music and touch (particularly for residents with challenging behaviour) revealed outstanding results. One unexpected outcome of the original program was the development of a “Care for the Carers” program. This proved to be a popular and effective program to reduce stress for staff and relatives.

Education and training was a major focus throughout the year with many opportunities including food safety certificates, manual handling, dementia care and computer training provided for staff.

Residents greatly appreciated renovations to two of our bathrooms and the extensive upgrading of our gardens and outdoor areas.

8. R.E. Tebbutt Lodge

R.E. Tebbutt Lodge is a 67-bed (66 permanent residents and one respite) residential aged care facility at Dundas, in the original home of the late Sir Fredrick and Lady Lottie Stewart. The property was donated to Wesley Mission and the home was first used as the nurses’ home for the adjoining hospital. In 1975 the home was extended for the purpose of providing accommodation for the frail aged.

It offers specialised care in the areas of dementia, psychogeriatric conditions, Huntington's and frail age. This 24-hour, seven days a week, care is provided in a loving, caring, Christian environment, with specialised trained staff.

This year, we developed a refurbishment plan to take us well into the 21st century. It also was marked by a successful three years accreditation by the Aged Care Standards Agency.

Wesley Home Care

Wesley Home Care is a community based service, employing more than 100 staff who visit the homes of frail aged and disabled people throughout Sydney.

The program mainly offers Community Aged Care Packages, which are designed to help older people who want to remain living in their own homes rather than going into residential care. Services provided to these clients include assistance with personal care, shopping, housework, socialising and transport. Individual care is offered according to specific needs. During this year, WHCS provided Packages in the Baulkham Hills, Holroyd, Parramatta, Sutherland Shire, Strathfield, Burwood and Concord local government areas.

It also operated the following programs:

1. Wesley Home Modification and Maintenance Services (WHMMS) - a Home and Community Care Program (HACC), this is the largest service of its kind in NSW. This program assists frail aged and disabled people by modifying and maintaining their homes to ensure they are safe. The work carried out includes installing ramps, handrails, hand held showers and modifying bathrooms. WHMMS operates in the Marrickville, Canterbury, Leichhardt, Drummoyne, Ashfield, Strathfield, Burwood and Concord local government areas.
2. Assistance With Care and Housing for the Aged Program - operates in the Parramatta, Holroyd and Blacktown local government areas. This program identifies homeless frail aged people who need help from existing local services.
3. Commonwealth Respite for Carers Program - a small respite program operating in the Sutherland Shire. This program enables the main carer of a frail aged or disabled person to have a break from the day-to-day workload of caring for a loved one.

Our work in the Sutherland Shire was significantly boosted this year, with the Department of Health and Aged Care granting of 10 additional Community Aged Care Packages to administer.

The Aged Persons’ Welfare Foundation approved an application for $28,000. This money was used to provide social events for clients, including Christmas Parties for all programs.

Wesley Home Care will continue to provide exceptional quality care to all clients and staff.

From July 1, 2000, Wesley Home Care took over the administration of:

• Charlie Woodward Lodge - a 20-bed, low level aged facility for the homeless located in Smithfield and;
• Area Fund Holder Program for Home Modification in the Inner West region of Sydney.

In addition, Wesley Home Care has recently applied for additional Community Aged Care Packages across the Sydney Metropolitan area.

Wesley School for Seniors

Wesley School for Seniors provides senior adults with high quality leisure and learning opportunities.

The school has developed a reputation as a quality provider of computer courses for older people, including a course on what to look for when buying a computer.

We acknowledged the important and valuable work done by chaplain Rev. Bruce Noble, who retired in October. Our new chaplain, Rev. Doug Clements, started in July.

During the year, we received financial support from The Aged Persons’ Welfare Fund, The NSW Board of Adult and Community Education and from School for Seniors’ students. The school continues to function effectively because of the time given by 118 volunteers who serve as tutors, canteen staff, spring fair fundraisers, and office support. There were 1463 students enrolled during the year.

Wesley Health and Counselling Services

Wesley Health and Counselling Services consists of Wandene and Wesley Private Hospitals, Carlingford Day Therapy Centre, Mayo/Wesley Unit at Taree, Creditline, Lifeline, LifeForce and Wesley Gambling and Counselling Services.

This group offers a unique set of services to meet the ever-growing needs in the community. Even after a relatively short time together, Wesley Health and Counselling Service is looking at a number of projects which staff can embark on together.

1. Creditline

The counselling and advisory services of CreditLine grew rapidly during 1999/2000.

Wesley Community Legal Service, which offers representation, support and advice for people in financial difficulties, doubled in size but was still stretched to capacity. Our staff were involved in court work of all kinds, tests cases in the consumer credit and responsible gambling areas and in submissions to government on legislative changes.

Our Gambling Legal Service provided legal advice and court representation for gamblers and their families and ran test cases against irresponsible gambling providers.

To assist clients in the future, a national Mortgage Helpline is being established. This will run as a pilot scheme for low-income families with home loan defaults.

2. LifeForce

In responding to the challenge created by Australia’s high suicide rate, LifeForce visited 105 communities, trained 1,916 participants in day-long suicide prevention workshops and educated a further 1,447 through awareness seminars. This was a 325 per cent increase over the previous year.

The success of the LifeForce program was due to the support received from Woman’s Day, Channel 9, 2Day FM, local newspapers and radio stations.

In June 2000, LifeForce hosted the “This Is Your Life” fundraising event, which not only raised the profile of the LifeForce program, but secured sufficient funding to carry LifeForce through to 2001.

LifeForce staff have trained 3,439 workshop participants and presented to more than 3,000 people in public presentation.

3. Lifeline Sydney

Lifeline Sydney is part of Lifeline Australia and provides a 24-hour crisis telephone counselling service to callers in Sydney’s south, east and south western suburbs. The service is available to anyone regardless of age, race or cultural background, for the cost of a local call.

In addition to providing crisis counselling, Lifeline provides crisis intervention, involving staff liaising with emergency services to provide assistance to distraught callers who may be suicidal.

Lifeline also provides free, professional, face-to-face counselling for those who are ready to work through their issues.

In 1999/2000, Lifeline Sydney was reaccredited as a Lifeline Centre. The accreditation team commended Lifeline Sydney on the morale and enthusiasm of the volunteers and the strength of the face-to-face counselling program.

The Life’s a Ball Committee, a group of dedicated young volunteer supporters, ran the fourth Lifeline Sydney Ball and raised more than $30,000 for the face-to-face counselling service. Since it was first formed, the Life’s a Ball Committee has raised more than $70,000.

In 1999, 80 new volunteers were trained as counsellors.

A new telephone system is being implemented in the new financial year, to improve the service and support we can give callers. It will also enhance the service's administration.

The second Lifeline Sydney Bookfair will be held in November and we are looking to increase the number of face-to-face counsellors from 10 to 20. This will allow us to provide a greater service for those in need of counselling but who are unable to afford the high cost of commercial counselling support.

4. Hospitals

The work of Wesley Mission’s hospital services expanded rapidly during the past 12 months. In November, 1999 we were invited to provide clinical services to a planned six-bed private facility at the Mayo Private Hospital at Taree. This facility opened in January 2000 and offers a high quality service to residents of the Manning River Valley.

Wandene and Wesley Private Hospitals both enjoyed an excellent year. We added a psychogeriatric assessment and treatment service, and an inpatient unit to complement our day program which treats patients with a personality disorder. Our day therapy centre at Carlingford, offering NSW’s only specialised, stand alone service for patients with an eating disorder, was well accepted by patients.

During the past year, we have negotiated new contracts with all the major insurance funds for an increased payment.

Wandene had similarly excellent results, operating at 80 per cent occupancy and treating 957 day patients over the past year.

A special word of thanks is extended to the benefactress of Wesley Private Hospital, Ms Todds Barrett. Todds continued to make significant donations to our hospital, which enabled us to improve our level of service to our patients.

5. Wesley Gambling Counselling Services

Wesley Gambling Counselling Services was established in 1997 to help gamblers and their families overcome the debilitating addiction. It now runs an office in Penrith and offers outreach services to the Blue Mountains.

The service provides individual, relationship, family and financial counselling, together with group therapy and legal services.

This year, we received funding to provide a counsellor for the St George/Sutherland region of Sydney.

We also provided 2,576 face-to-face counselling sessions and 1,597 telephone counselling sessions. Overall, 618 new clients accessed our service during this period. Staff were on call 24 hours a day to Star City Casino, should any of their patrons require emergency counselling.

The team also continues to offer statewide counsellor training and support.

Wesley Gambling Counselling Service is supported by the NSW Government through the Casino Community Benefit Trust Fund and the Department of Community Services, and receives sponsorship from Panthers Leagues Club at Penrith.

Wesley Dalmar Child & Family Care

1. Executive Services

Dalmar Executive Services staff, based at Carlingford, provide support to Dalmar’s regional programs in the areas of training, continuous improvement, procedure development, applications for Government funding and representing Wesley Dalmar on various government and industry committees. From Carlingford, staff also operate a training facility for the whole of Wesley Mission.

The major focus this year was Wesley Dalmar's progression towards achieving ISO 9002 certification, a world standard benchmark for provision of quality services. Wesley Dalmar was proud to be the first welfare agency in NSW to achieve this level of accreditation.

This year saw a great deal of interaction with Alan Walker Retirement Village. Residents provided welcome packs for clients in our Short Term Units, as did members of the Henty Uniting Church and the wider community.

More than 100 people responded to the Chaplain’s request for prayer partners during her deputation work.

Staff catered for the Wesley Dalmar Training Centre and the Wesley Hospital Eating Disorder Program. This year, we provided catering for 97 days of training and full day catering to Wesley Hospital on 144 occasions.

We also hosted two successful Old Boys and Girls reunions. These reunions were important occasions for former clients who show an interest in accessing their records during the reunions. There was also an increase in the number of former clients wanting to access information from their files, including some who came out from England as British child migrants.

2. Dalmar Metropolitan Coastal Region

The Metropolitan Coastal office supports the work of the Dalmar facilities in the Sydney inner-west, south-west and central business district. As well as family counselling, we operate:

• Gateway – a crisis cottage caring for children between the ages of 5-15. We take referrals 24-hours of the day;
• Phoenix – Phoenix Specialist Foster Care and Community Options Program specialises in finding foster carers for children with challenging behaviours. The program aims to provide long term, short term, respite and community based placements for children and young people aged 0-17, along with support, training and ongoing education for foster carers.
• Cottee Independent Living Program – a supported accommodation program.

This year, we established a new volunteer program called Generations Connect. This home-visiting program connected older persons with isolated young parents to offer companionship and support. Lakemba Arabic Mothers Group celebrated its 10th birthday in August 1999 with a party.

In order to accommodate the growth in programs, we extended the office space and provided a more appropriate entry for clients.

Under the Phoenix program, we developed a range of community options including family supported independent living arrangements and youth worker run houses, with individually developed programs, to help to prepare children and young people for fostering.

We also restructured our foster program and employed new coordinators, caseworkers (full-time and part-time) and a team leader. We also employed many new youth workers for the community options programs.

Phoenix increased its profile in the community, through advertising, brochures and speaking engagements. There was more client input into the running of services and the amount of interagency activity increased also, with attendance at Department of Community Services and community forums.

Gateway Cottage is a crisis youth accommodation service for children and young people aged between 5-15 years. Gateway is able to accommodate up to six children. Nearly all our referrals come from the Department of Community Services, with one per cent coming from the general community seeking respite care.

The crisis service offers care for up to three months, with flexibility based on individual needs of clients. We have two Youth Workers rostered at all times when working face-to-face with children.

The Caseworker liaises with the relevant agencies on behalf of the children and the service. Children placed at Gateway each have a placement plan, covering specific needs and addressing any behavioural issues that raise concern.

We celebrated our 35th birthday in October 1999 with Carmel Niland, Director General of the Department of Community Services attending.

Staff from Westpac Bank painted the cottage, saving us $10,000. As well as being given a facelift outside, we changed cork floors to slip-resistant vinyl, replaced windows and completed internal occupational health and safety (OHS) audit by Dalmar’s OHS Committee.

Gateway acquired one-off grants from DOCS for $114,000 and DEET for $600 and passed ISO 9000 internal and external audits.

3. Dalmar Hawkesbury Nepean Region

Now entering its 12th year in Penrith, Dalmar Hawkesbury-Nepean enjoys a well earned reputation for excellence in the provision of foster care and family therapy services to the local community.

Our foster care programs provide weekend care (Share the Care respite), temporary and crisis care (up to three months), bridging carer (3-18 months), and long term care (Family Finders placements until 18 years). The programs focus on providing care for young people while maintaining necessary links with families.

The Family Therapy Team provided counselling for families with concerns about children and adolescents. The concerns include behavioural, emotional and relationship issues at home, school or in peer groups and situations of domestic violence, child at risk, separations and blended families. The team also provided professional supervision and training to other counselling professionals.

All of our programs completed successful Systems Audits under ISO 9000 and became accredited.

We also ran Quakers Hill Family Centre, a joint partnership between Wesley Dalmar and the Uniting Church congregations of Quakers Hill. The centre offered programs and counselling for families, outreach programs to residents of Sundowner Village and in Riverstone, community development activities, financial assistance and counselling, group work and outside school hours care.

Quakers Hill Family Centre grew significantly, with the establishment of two new programs under the Western Sydney Area Assistance Scheme and an exciting new outreach development at Riverstone, in partnership with the Blacktown Learning Community.

In, 1999/2000, the Quakers Hill family Centre Family Work team saw 698 families and 1675 children in counselling, family work, intensive family work and groups. Additionally, the centre had 317 children from 201 families in the vacation care before-school care and after-school care programs.

Group work for both adults and children, included parenting educational programs, self-esteem, domestic violence groups, truancy reduction programs, adolescent parents support, playgroup, English classes, craft group, resume writing and interview preparation and a “breakfast club”.

Additional programs were set up for children who are often the “forgotten victims” of family/domestic violence and family breakdown. The centre now offers groups for victims of domestic violence aged between 5-7, 8-11 and 12-14. It also conducted groups on self-esteem, grief and loss, friendships, anger management, sibling rivalry and suicide. For the future, it is exploring ways of building in phone/internet mentoring for children caught in domestic violence, through the use of volunteers.

Our Out-of-School-Hours Care has three components: before and after School care, after-school care and vacation care. Vacation care grew dramatically this year and now has approximately 60 children each day with many on the waiting list. Before and After school care is still growing and we are looking for ways to expand.

4. Dalmar Youth Services

Dalmar Youth Services provides an Independent Living Skills Program (ILP) and a Street Outreach Program. The ILP assists homeless young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are unable to live at home.

The Street Outreach Youth Workers met with youth on the streets in the Ashfield local government area, providing a point of referral to link young people into existing support services within the community. This program is an early intervention and prevention service, helping youth with issues of homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, health and domestic violence.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding, we were required to provide prevention programs, which empower young people to regain control of their lives and help them live independently. With the programs that are in place, Dalmar Youth Services is already meeting this standard and is recognized within the community as a leading service in providing care and support to homeless youth.

Cottee Lodge, and its caretaker’s flat, was restored and a new bathroom and patio constructed. Fire and burglar alarms were installed, in order to improve safety for residents and staff. A new residential unit also was set up within the Lodge, to help young people who require additional support in their living skills development.

5. Wesley Mission Central Coast

The Regional Office at Tuggerah provides services to children, young people and families in the community.

During the past 12 months, we provided fostercare for children aged 0-14 years for periods from overnight to permanent long term care; an Independent Living Program for young people aged between 16 and 22 including young parents; Friends and Relatives of Gamblers Support (FROGS), which provides counselling for families and friends of problem gamblers and community education on gambling issues; and “How to Drug Proof your Kids” seminars for parents.

This year saw new positive cooperative networking with other welfare agencies.

The Independent Living Program experienced 100 per cent turnover of youth support workers and two accommodation houses (five beds) out of service for an extended period.

Out-of-home care increased its capacity for service as well as the provision of service by half, without a corresponding increase in staffing levels.

Income from other Wesley Mission programs using regional office space increased by 50 per cent.

In November, 50 people attended a Wesley Mission Community Breakfast at Mingara Recreation Club, with Angela Wood as the guest speaker. In January, approval was given for the Wesley Dalmar Independent Living Program to provide four, two-bedroom units to accommodate young mothers.

In June 2000, Richard Face, MP, Minister for Gaming and Racing announced funding to allow the FROGS project to continue and expand.

6. Wesley Dalmar Cumberland Hills Region

In the Cumberland Hills region, in Sydney’s north and north-west, we offer foster care, units for short term accommodation and jointly run a family centre in Castle Hill (Hills Family Centre).

The programs in this region cater to disadvantaged families, adolescents and children.

i. Foster Care operates in four ways:

• Long term care provides services to the foster families, children and birth families where children need a substitute family until they reach adulthood.
• Short term care can provide temporary care for up to six children.
• Medium term is where there is uncertainty about the future and a holding place is required whilst Courts make their decisions, parents recover or a permanent placement is found. On average, six children are in this category at any one time.
• Respite care supports families in the community by providing a placement for a weekend a month, over approximately 12 months. The aim is to prevent total breakdown and the need for children to be in permanent care.

ii. The Hills Family Centre has several sub programs to support disadvantaged families. They include:

• Family Work provides workers to support families and children through crises and difficult periods in their lives.
• Group Work involves a staff member contracting leaders with specialist skills to run a variety of programs which deal with a range of issues such as parenting skills, grief and loss, domestic violence.
• Extra Hands provides a coordinator who assesses, trains and supports volunteers who support families in troubled times, by providing child care, teaching parents how to play with their children or by undertaking practical tasks which help families cope through troubled times. Approximately 20 volunteers were active in this program.
• Outreach to Kellyville and the Rouse Hill area is achieved by the temporary location of workers for counselling and group work.

iii. Short Term Units provide care for up to 12 weeks for homeless families in four, three-bedroom houses at Carlingford. A new coordinator was appointed and it will be her role to seek additional funding to provide much needed support services to the children as well as parents and also after care services when families move back into the community.

iv. Lindara is a joint venture with four congregations of the Uniting Church in the Lindfield/Killara area who provide the funds and work with Wesley Dalmar in a joint management committee. This is a medium term supported accommodation program which supports four families in private rental in the community.

Camping programs were developed for foster children together with the birth children of foster families. A monthly morning tea support group continued to be well attended and partnerships were forged with the carers of the Department of Community Services and Anglicare.

Lottie Stewart Hospital

Lottie Stewart Hospital is a 136 bed, third schedule hospital. It provides specialised residential and subacute services in the areas of Palliative Care, Huntington’s Disease, Spinal, Aged Care, Transit, Respite, Geriatric Rehabilitation, CADE and Psychiatric units.

A Huntington’s Rural Outreach Support Agreement was signed in July 1999. The agreement provided for additional funding for a two-year period from the Huntington Disease Association (NSW) to provide enhanced rural and remote outreach to families with Huntington’s Disease. The first visit was to rural areas by the Speech Pathologist. The additional funding enhanced our statewide service in the area of Huntington’s Disease.

Following a successful special older person portrait competition (more than 1000 entries were received from local schools and displayed at the hospital’s fete in May 1999) a further showing was organised at the Riverside Theatre Parramatta. An open night was held on Friday, August 20, 2000 when well known Australian performer Lorrae Desmond opened the exhibition. In conjunction with the opening, the hospital had 120 tickets to see David Williamson’s play, The Department.

After visiting our site in June 2000, surveyors from the Aged Care Agency Standards, recommended to the State Manager that we receive three years accreditation.

The Nurses’ Registration Board, following a visit, gave approval for Lottie Stewart Hospital to provide clinical training placements for student enrolled nurses.

Lottie Stewart Hospital’s website was officially launched at our Annual General Meeting on November 25, 1999.

The hospital’s first Resident/Relative Forum was held in April 2000. A number of staff members and the Consumer Representative provided presentations.

Following discussions with WSAHS, four sub-acute transit beds were opened in the Aged Care Unit for the winter period, taking the hospital’s total bed numbers to 140.

A score of 91.6 per cent was achieved in the numerical profile audit held in May 2000. This result demonstrated best practice in a number of areas relating to Occupational Health and Safety.

go to top