A Vision for the Future at Frankston South
As you may have read in the Spring issue, plans for our Integrated Living Development at Frankston South are moving ahead.
We lodged the application with the Department of Transport and Planning in October and have been liaising with the Department to respond to their request for more information about various aspects of the project.
A development of this scale goes through a rigorous process of assessment during which it is advertised in the local community, and this will take some months.
We are at a very exciting time in the organisation’s life: it feels appropriate that in celebrating our 20th birthday last year, Vasey RSL Care has reached ‘adulthood’ and we have very clear goals to fulfil our Mission and deliver on our commitments to our community. Our Frankston South development will respond to many of the needs expressed by veterans and their families and the wider community.
We recently held meetings with our Frankston South aged care staff, with residents and their representatives, and with residents in our ex-service accommodation. For the people living at Vasey RSL Care Frankston South, there will inevitably be some disruption and we will do everything possible to manage the project in such a way that this is minimised.
We will be holding a public Information Session on Monday 15 December, inviting adjoining neighbours to attend, and we welcome anyone who would like to find out more to come along.
Details about this meeting and other aspects of the Development can be found here.
Our Inaugural Tour de V Centre
Congratulations to the riders of our Tour de V Centre for making it from Warrnambool to Melbourne!
The ride aimed to shine a light on the unacceptably high numbers of homeless veterans, and to raise awareness across the state, not just about the issue itself, but about the support services available to veterans, in particular, the V Centre Veteran Empowerment Program.
We are sincerely grateful to the event sponsors who made the Tour de V Centre possible, the event support crew who volunteered their time, and the dinner speakers who shared personal experiences and stories of courage and hope.
Read more and watch the video here.
Annual General Meeting
The organisation’s AGM was held in November and I am very pleased to report that the three Directors whose three-year terms had come up for renewal were all re-elected to the Board and Mike O’Meara OAM will continue as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the year ahead.
We are very fortunate to have Directors who are involved and passionate about our work and our Mission, and who have put their trust in our Executive Leadership Team and staff to work to achieve the goals set out in our Strategic Plan 2025-2030. Read more.
New Aged Care Act – now in effect
The new Aged Care Act and strengthened Standards came into effect on 1 November and while we support the goal of ensuring aged care is well regulated, I’d also like to note the significant additional load this has put onto our Residential Services and Community Services teams over the past year.
To ensure our community is aware of the Act’s impacts, we have provided a series of short bulletins covering the major changes affecting clients, residents and their families, and we will continue to provide information and updates as we all get used to the many new aspects of the Act. Read more.
The Power of Stories – Saluting Excellence
We have just held our annual staff Saluting Excellence Conference and presented this year’s Awards. Congratulations to all our highly deserving nominees and award recipients. It was a wonderful day and we have our conference sponsors to thank for enabling this event. Read more here.
There is always a lot happening at this time of year and I hope that you and your loved ones manage to take some time to relax and recuperate over the holiday season. For those celebrating Christmas, I wish you a very happy time, and to everyone, I wish you a healthy and happy year ahead.
Janna Voloshin
Chief Executive Officer