Save Vasey RSL Care: What Our Staff are Saying

Letters from Our Staff Members

Vasey RSL Care Ivanhoe – signed by 43 staff members

As staff members, we talked about your decision amongst ourselves and were deeply saddened by the news when we though of the residents in our care and what your decision means for them.

Out of 50, 33 residents at Ivanhoe either served in World War II and 1 resident served in Vietnam War. These residents do verbalise that they are happy with the care and meals provided. Vasey RSL Care has some exclusive training for staff which enlightens them to specific care and support needs for the veterans in our care. This training includes ‘Induction training day’ which is offered at the Shrine of Remembrance and ‘Custodians of Culture’ training, among others. 

We would like to let you know that it’s not by chance that the veterans are happy and satisfied by the care and support they get at Vasey RSL Care, it is because staff who look after them are specifically trained to provide the care. 

This is among other reasons that Vasey RSL Care stands out amongst all other care providers.

The sale of Vasey RSL care will not guarantee that the buyer will continue to provide the same high quality care, highly specific care that Vasey RSL Care provides. This then will result in unhappy veterans – now and in the future.

We are requesting that you reconsider selling Vasey RSL Care, for the good of the current veterans in our care and for the next generation of veterans from Vietnam War, Korean War, Afghanistan War, Iraqi War and other war and peace keeping missions. These next generation will also require quality care and Vasey RSL Care has the ability, capability and wealth of experience in providing high quality service to veterans and their families.

Today it’s these veterans who need these quality care Vasey RSL Care is providing. Tomorrow it will be you and us! We need the great service provided by Vasey RSL care to continue.

Staff Member: Residential Aged Care

When I first heard the news that the RSL and Guild had instructed Vasey RSL Care to sell, I had to ask myself honestly. Would selling to a different organization really change anything for our residents and that lead me to ask, what made Vasey RSL Care different or unique to any other facility?

My thoughts immediately went to “our veterans” those men and women who have made ultimate sacrifices for us, they are the people that make our facility different to any other. Over 11 years I have had the opportunity to listen to the stories of our veterans. Some were shared openly and others were shared indirectly through cognitive decline.

I have reassured a war widower living with dementia that her children were safe, when she was trapped in a time and place when her husband had died, and she had to leave her children to earn a living. I have held a resident while he cried and grieved for his lost mate at the Canberra War Memorial, when we attend the centenary anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli. I have helped orientate and reassured a veteran who each night when he went to sleep, ran messages back and forth during his wartime service. I have listened as a veteran told me of his experiences in Korea, where he had to kill soldier after soldier while praying that they would just stop coming.

So, what makes our organization different? Simply put, it’s the experiences of our veterans and their widows. The sense of community, mateship, and support they feel, being surrounded by others who understand, respect and honour them and the others who have come before them. The sense of camaraderie which has been created by their shared history, and the ability to come together in one place, at a time of their lives were those experiences were critical to the lives they have lived. That’s what makes Vasey RSL Care unique and different.

The organization has also educated a workforce and created a culture which honours and respects our veterans. I’m ashamed to say that before working for Vasey RSL Care I did not give much thought to those who had served. This organization has definitely changed that for me, through their ongoing education and the direct contact with our residents. I now feel so incredibly grateful and appreciative of the sacrifices that were made. I am one of 550 staff members; I will not be the only one who has a new appreciation and understanding of what “veteran” means. We are privileged to be educated directly from their experiences.

Through the partnership of the RSL and Guild, an amazing organization was created. One that supports veterans at the most vulnerable time of their lives. I have seen what it means for our residents to come together and live out the rest of their lives in a community that respects, honours and acknowledges their shared history.  Please don’t take that away from those who are currently living at a Vasey facility or from those who would benefit from that support and community in the future. 

Staff Member: Central Office

I believe that selling off Vasey RSL Care is not in the best interests of current and future generations of veterans. Our veterans require a trusted organisation with the strength and expertise to continue to deliver the direct care, housing and social support they need. Vasey RSL Care is the organisation to do that as they are doing now and into the future. The support and care Vasey provides to the veterans at the Residential sites and the Independent Living Units has been well established over many years. The family of Vasey RSL Care are doing a wonderful job looking after our Veterans and that should not change.

The management and staff of Vasey are committed to providing the important ongoing care and support in all of their operations. 

Staff Member: 

Vasey RSL Care has a strong bond with the armed forces in Australia.

Taking away Vasey RSL Care will not only cause great distress to current residents and employees but also will cause distress for people who wish to come to Vasey RSL Care in the future.

Vasey RSL Care takes care of ex-service men and women with pride and the culture of mateship is strong.

Selling Vasey will not only cause uncertainty for the care of our future service men and women but it will feel like you are taking away the one last glimmer of hope that they can be looked after and be surrounded by people just like them.

Vasey is unique and supportive of everything these men and woman have lived and fought for. We can’t just sell something like this.

Vasey RSL Care for many is a home and should not be sold.

We need to support our service men and women, not only from the past but into the future.

Regards,

Staff Member: Central Office

Please accept my letter of support as a current staff member directed in advocacy to RSL Victoria and the War Widows Guild (Vic)

I work closely and directly to support veterans, ex-service men and women and their widows /widowers to access and maintain affordable and stable housing through VaseyRSLCare Ex-Service Units program.

The service provides responsive and veteran-focused housing to meet the urgent and often complex social and health needs of ex-service who present along the road after their service transition.

Key to that journey is VaseyRSLCare’s  culture of service and support which assists to meet their housing need while maintaining and returning dignity through recognition of their service contributions.

In my direct role and within my capacity,  I personally have seen hope return to the eye of many a veteran and many a widow – as recognition that this housing is about them, and VaseyRSLCare’s ongoing accommodation and professional service will make a big difference to their lives. The history of this service bears that account out through the recognition of individual tenants,  the ex-service professional service orginisations and RSL branches whom directly provide service and support to our community.

With the greatest respect to tem I would urge RSL Victoria and War Widows Guild to review and reconsider the current strategic plan and refocus their mission direction based on the specific ex-service needs provided to veterans,  war widows and members of the ex-service community by  Vasey RSLCare.

Yours truly  

Staff Member: Central Office

I have worked for Vasey RSL Care for four years and I have never worked anywhere else where the care and concern for the people who are our ‘customers’ are so evident.

Contrary to the public perception of aged care organisations, Vasey RSL Care lives by its Purpose – to ‘Serve Those Who Served’ and to ensure they are always treated with dignity and honour. This ethos is set by the Board and championed by CEO, Janna Voloshin,  who lives ‘Our Promises’ to our community in everything she does. She sets the standard, and that standard is upheld by her management team and modelled by them to all staff.

Our residents, ex-service unit tenants and our home care consumers, the majority of whom are ex-service, receive care and support that demonstrates the organisation’s understanding of the implications of their service and our commitment to doing all we can to support them.

From the staff induction, held at the Shrine of Remembrance, the Hero’s Wish program fulfilling the wishes and desires of our heroes, the annual ‘Saluting Excellence’ staff awards, the relationships with HMAS Cerberus and Simpson Barracks – and their involvement in commemorations and the Senior Masterchef challenge, to the connections with Carry On, Soldier On, RSL Sub-branches that support our aged care homes, Vietnam Veterans, and the Austin Repatriation Hospital, the theme of service is always there: it informs and underlies every aspect of this organisation.

Vasey RSL Care looks after people who have given service in war, in peace, in Australia, overseas; those who have lost their loved ones to their service; those struggling to return to a civilian life after their time in the military; those whose lives have been permanently afflicted by their service and for whom life is and always will be a battle. Vasey RSL Care is a patriotic fund that is fulfilling its mission. This work assists RSL Victoria and the War Widows Guild Australia (VIC) to fulfill their missions.

Selling Vasey RSL Care would have unquantifiable costs:

1. the World War II veteran whose medals never see the light of day at his care home;
2. the war widow whose sacrifice is not recognised in her retirement village;
3. the homeless man living in his car because his landlord put up the rent beyond his means;
4. the wife whose husband has dementia and whose cries for help are not understood.

I am calling on you to rethink your instructions to sell this organisation, and instead, support Vasey RSL Care to continue the great work it is doing in aged care, home care and social housing, and to expand its support services as outlined in its strategic plan. The value of the intellectual property, knowledge and expertise contained in this organisation are immeasurable and this organisation is better-placed than any other existing organisation to tackle the ongoing issues faced by the ex-service community.

With the support of the RSL Victoria and the Guild, Vasey RSL Care can become the gold standard for supporting veterans and war widows in Australia. Rather than divest and be seen to be ‘selling out’ Victoria’s veterans and war widows, this would associate the RSL Victoria with the reputation held by Vasey RSL Care among its community.

This can be a win-win-win situation – for veterans, war widows and the amazing team of staff at Vasey RSL Care.

Thank you for reading and I sincerely hope that we can work together for a better future for those who have served our nation.

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