This quarter has been something of a roller coaster with celebrations and commemorations, excitements and disappointments.

ANZAC Day

Our residential homes put on their usual high standard of commemorative services to honour and remember all who have served, past and present. I was able to attend the Frankston South service and members of our Executive Management Team and Board of Directors attended at Brighton, Brighton East and Bundoora. I’d like to commend our staff for the respectful and dignified services they arrange – something we have now come to expect, but is not taken for granted.

Prior to ANZAC Day, we were very pleased to welcome Federal Member for Dunkley, Ms Jodie Belyea MP on a visit to our Frankston South Aged Care home and she was very happy to join residents in making ANZAC biscuits.

We were equally pleased to welcome Local State Member for Bundoora, Mr Colin Brooks MP to our Bundoora Aged Care home where he took a tour before also joining residents to make ANZAC biscuits – using resident Marie’s special recipe.

We took this opportunity to show him the site and the plans for the 20 new Bundoora ex-service accommodation units on the adjacent land: we hope to break ground on these in the next few months.

The V Centre Veteran Empowerment Program

The V Centre has now been open for nearly five months and has reached more than three-quarters capacity. Our plan was to have The V Centre fill at a measured pace and this has worked well, although we are a little ahead of what we had planned.

Every time I visit The V Centre, I’m moved by the positivity and sense of purpose that fills the air. Each participant brings a unique story of courage and resilience, despite the challenges they’ve faced. This is an incredible group of individuals, diligently working to rebuild their lives, and making significant progress each day. Their contributions to our country are immeasurable and I’m confident they will continue to achieve great things: we are here to support them on their journey to recovery and beyond.

Annual Staff Saluting Excellence Awards

Our staff are at the core of our organisation: they are the ones who serve, encourage, support, care for and assist our community of aged care residents, home care clients, ex-service accommodation residents and V Centre veterans and often also their families, and each other. I am proud of our staff culture and the way our Mission, to ‘Serve Those Who Served’ is demonstrated.

Our annual Saluting Excellence Awards are one way that we can acknowledge the quality of the work they do and the ways in which they uphold our Promises to our community.

So I’d like to call on you to nominate a staff member for an Award. You can nominate more than one if you wish to. Nominations are important: they show that their work has been noticed and appreciated. So please consider the interactions you’ve had with staff and make sure our very caring and conscientious staff are recognised. Nominations open in early July so please look out for details in the coming weeks.

Centenarians at Vasey RSL Care

I recently discovered that across our four aged care homes, we have 21 centenarians! Furthermore, we have 11 residents in their 100th year. Considering that life expectancy in Australia is 83.3 years, this is remarkable. It speaks volumes about the resilience and strength of our community – as well as their care!

Budgets, Acts and Commissions

The State and Federal budgets have been delivered, and disappointingly, Vasey RSL Care’s submissions have been unsuccessful. Times are difficult and it is reasonable to expect cost-of-living pressures to be the main priority. We will continue to lobby for support for our programs and we are confident that funding will be sourced to ensure we can fulfil our commitments to our community.

We now have confirmation that the delayed new Aged Care Act and Quality Standards will not come into effect until 1 July next year, and we await the Royal Commission into Defence & Veteran Suicide’s final report in September. In the meantime, we will continue to support our community in every way possible.

Janna Voloshin, Chief Executive Officer