*  06 September 2022  *

We are now officially into spring and you may share my sense of relief as Victorian daily new COVID-19 cases have finally begun to fall. It’s still not a cause for celebration, but perhaps some guarded optimism.
As well as the continuing battle to keep our residential community safe, there have been many other activities over the past few months and I’d like to draw your attention to the following:

V Centre Update

In early August, we invited experts in the fields of homelessness and veteran support services to attend our V Centre Program Design Workshop, held at our former Ivanhoe aged care facility/future V Centre.
Representatives from seven organisations joined us and provided helpful insights and advice.

Ex-Service Events

After over two years of planning and postponement, the Victorian Department of Veterans Affairs as finally able to hold its Victorian Ex-Service Organisations (ESO) Summit in early August.
I had the opportunity to give a short presentation on Vasey RSL Care’s services, including our expanding home care service, the extension of ex-service accommodation to regional Victoria, and the future V Centre – which is really striking a chord with the ex‑service community.

The Veteran Services Team attended the latest ADF Transition Seminar in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago and we continue to strengthen our relationships on both an individual and corporate basis.

More Regional Units

After our successful trip to Wodonga in May, we again chose winter to visit the ship-wreck coast, namely Warrnambool (pictured with Chris Gray).

In June, we purchased a six-unit property in Warrnambool and we take possession in September. They are two-bedroom units and the property is centrally located, less than ten minutes walk to the shopping centre and even less to the main station. The units are being purchased occupied so refurbishments will be organised as vacancies arise, with new tenants being from the ex-service community.

Residential Wellbeing Focus

There are two exciting new initiatives in our residential aged care homes aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of all residents through nutrition: the first is the introduction of an increased amount of dairy and the second is an initiative of our food services contractor, Medirest, called Meal Vision. Please see the next page for more information on both of these.

More Research

Evidence-based practice is the basis of all our activities, and following on from the valuable findings of our research into veteran accommodation preferences last year, we are now conducting research into the experiences of those seeking our services. Some readers may have been invited to a focus group or asked to fill in a survey and I encourage you to participate if you can. This is vital for us, ensuring our future plans are based on real experience.

Royal Commission Interim Report

The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide delivered its interim report on 11 August having held hearings in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Townsville and Hobart. Further hearings will continue prior to the June 2024 delivery of the final report.

Aged Care Employee Day

On 7 August, we marked Aged Care Employee Day with a little gift to each of our staff – just a token of our appreciation for their commitment to our residents and clients and loyalty to the organisation.
Not all our staff work in aged care of course, but they all have a unique and vital role to play and we could not do what we do without them. It’s especially important to acknowledge those ‘at the coal face’ and it was lovely to be able to pass messages on to them that came in from our whole community.

Janna Voloshin

Chief Executive Officer