Quarterly Can - Creative Abilities

Creative Abilities ‘Sports Day’
Important Dates
2015
Term 1:
• Mon 12 Jan to Fri 26 Jun
Term 2:
• Mon 20 Jul to Fri 11 Dec
Variety Programme:
• Mon 29 Jun to Fri 10 Jul
Creative Abilities hosted it’ Annual Sports Day on Friday 6th March 2015. We
had an amazing day outdoors and the clients put in a fantastic effort and
participated in almost every race. Thank you to everyone for
making our Sports Day such a great success once again. There were a variety
of races which included a 100m sprint, egg & spoon race, sack race,
wheelchair race and our most popular and most hilarious event was the
“high heels race”. We also competed in an egg throwing game got everyone
onto the field. Unfortunately, the weather turned and the rain put a damper
on the day. However, that did not put an end to our festivities as we simply
took it back to the Centre. The BIG winners of the day
were Maxine Morgan, Bradley Grannall, Daniel James and Louise Duffee just
to name a few. Knights Rd won the Best Dressed Award, Hillcrest won the
Loudest Cheering Award, Riviera won the Most Outstanding Contribution
Award and Vanderbilt won the Most Committed Team Award. The overall
Cup winners was the Orange Team which consisted of Clients and Team
Members from Knights Rd, Riviera and Thornton. Well done to you all and
keep up the good work. We are all looking forward to next years Sports Day,
here is to hoping the weather will be kinder to us!
Centre Closed:
• Mon 13 Jul to Fri 17 Jul
Public Holidays:
• Good Friday Fri 3 Apr
• Easter Monday Mon 6 Apr
• ANZAC Holiday Mon 27 Apr
• Queen’s Birthday Mon 1 Jun
• Labour Day Mon 26 Oct
• Christmas Day Fri 25 Dec
• Boxing Day Hol. Mon 28 Dec
Events:
• Parents Forum Fri 17 Jul
• Client Event Fri 16 Oct
• Christmas Picnic Mon 14 Dec
14 Silverfield Estate
Wairau Valley, Auckland 0627
Ph: 09 444 0608
Louise Duffee & Cecilia—1st place in
the 100m Wheelchair Race
Daniel James—1st place in the 50m
Egg & Spoon Race
Emma, Jenna & Heather Carson
High Heels Race!
Thank You R&R
One of the many challenges at
Sports Day was a high heels race.
Who do you think won?
A very BIG thank you to R&R Total
Mobility for the generous donation for the Creative Sports Award
for “Outstanding Achievement”
and a voucher to Farmers!
Here are our lucky winners..
From Left to right: Steve, Romel, Sujoy, Emma
& Bryan
Boys Night Out at the
Eagles Concert !
Bradley & Henning got the
amazing opportunity to go to the
Eagles Concert on Saturday, 14th
March. The tickets were given by
Matthew’s father, Mark Van
Straaten. A BIG thank you to Mark
for the tickets!
The boys had an amazing time and
were lucky enough to have
beautiful weather too!
1st Place—Bryan
2nd Place—Sujoy
3rd Place—Romel
Unfortunately one of our
contestants collapsed
halfway through the race
& had to be carried the
rest of the way…
Guess who?
Amanda Lee & Heather Carson
Well done ladies for your
exceptional contribution with all
the races on Sports Day!
Steve
Sculpture Trip
In February, Mo’s sculpture class
went on a trip to the “Headland
Sculpture on the Gulf 2015” on
Waiheke Island. Our clients really
enjoyed the Ferry ride, all the
sculptures, the long walks and
would LOVE to go again! Their
favourite sculptures were the
singing sculpture and the flower.
Cultural & Spiritual
Beliefs
Sarah, Skyla, David, Maria, Natasha
and Linda have been supported in
meeting their Cultural and Spiritual
needs every Sunday at Christ the
Risen Church at Birkdale Primary
School. Clients are partaking in
activities including singing,
dancing and kids school, art, reading, story telling, puppet shows
and outdoor activities. The church
is a multi cultural group where clients identify themselves in terms
of culture and faith. Recently,
Andrew, our Day Centre client
from Spectrum also joined the
group.
Henning & Bradley
Drums & Music
Thursday morning is
one of our loudest
mornings here at the
Centre! The Clients
are entertained with
Philip & Ehlar
live music and a
drumming session which they all
thoroughly enjoy!
Karen celebrates
her Birthday
Karen celebrated her
birthday with all her family
and friends.
Left to right: Ehlar, Philip, Matthew T, Emma,
Danielle, Jeremy M, Richard V, Henning,
Jaimee-Leigh
Happy Birthday
Kayleigh
Kayleigh celebrated
her birthday in
style by going to
lunch with her
flatmates, family
& friends!
Back row: Andrew’s support worker, Nancy,
Maria P, Ofa, Pallavi, David
Front row: Andrew, Sarah, Natasha, Linda
Kayleigh & Ritchie
Remember to find us on
Facebook to see more photos!
Left to right: Heather C, Liz, Kirsten, Amanda,
Coleen, Leah, Melanie S, Kim S, Emma,
Margarita, Karen, Cecilia, Maxine
St. Patrick’s Day
On Tuesday 17th March,
St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated
with all things GREEN!
New Team Members
Welcome to:
The Importance of
Hand Washing
Life & Wellbeing Supporters:
• Suzanne Underwood
• Ivania Choi
• Matthew Raj
• Nate (Hyun Seob) Jung
• Arushi Nandy
By: Ronald Ong, Registered Nurse
• Amanda Aarons
- Social Worker
Keeping our hands clean is one of
the most important steps we can
take to avoid getting sick and
spreading germs to others. Many
diseases and conditions are spread
by not washing hands with soap
and clean, running water.
Long Service
“Wishing you a rainbow
for sunlight after showers
miles & miles of Irish smiles
for golden happy hours
shamrocks at your doorway
for luck & laughter too
& a host of friends that never ends
each day your whole life through!”
Ready to set Sail..
Sean Fahy
Sailability was
opened in
Hobbs Bay,
Whangaparoa on
January 31st.
Sean Fahy had
the opportunity
to go sailing
in one of the
events.
For more information about
Sailability, check out their website:
www.yachtingnz.org.nz
Out and About
During the summertime with the
beautiful weather we have had,
many have been enjoying various
events happening all over town!
There was the Chinese & Korean
New Year in Northcote, Lantern
Festival, a trip to Mission Bay and
another trip to Crystal Mountain.
Louise, Joshua & Karen at the
Lantern Festival
• Kehaati Palu—10 Years
(7/02/2015)
• Liyun Zhang—10 Years
(27/01/2015)
Welcome to our new
Social Worker,
Amanda Aarons
“Hi all, thank
you to you all
for the warm
welcome!
I am very
Creative,
I love to
laugh, and to have a good debate.
The best part in my life is my
husband and my 2 children. We
immigrated from South Africa in
2008 and after settling I chose to
study again. I currently hold an Art
Degree and BA Social Work. It has
been an exciting adventure with
many ups and downs but finally
we are all beginning to settle
down and enjoy our new life.
Being here at Creative Abilities is
definitely part of that settling in
and I hope to be here a long time
and become part of the family”.
JUST ANOTHER ACTION
SHOT FROM
SPORTS DAY !!!
When to wash your hands:
When you touch people, surfaces
and objects throughout the day,
you accumulate germs on your
hands. In turn, you can infect yourself with these germs by touching
your eyes, nose or mouth. Although it’s impossible to keep
your hands germ-free, washing
your hands frequently can help
limit the
transfer of bacteria, viruses and
other microbes.
Always wash your hands before:
• Preparing food or eating
• Treating wounds, giving
• medicine or caring for a sick or
injured person
• Inserting or removing contact
lenses
Always wash your hands after:
• Preparing food, especially raw
meat or poultry
• Using the toilet or changing a
diaper
• Touching an animal, animal toys,
leashes or waste
• Blowing your nose, coughing or
sneezing into your hands
• Treating wounds or caring for a
sick or injured person
• Handling garbage, household or
garden chemicals, or anything
that could be contaminated—
such as a cleaning cloth or soiled
shoes
• Shaking hands with others
Please see included a
Hand Washing Guide List
Message from the GM
Social Services Update
Training Update
By Steve Drury, General Manager
By Ellice Rains, Social Services Mgr.
2015,
into Autumn
already. Wow it
has gone quick!
So much has
happened.
Sadly the year
has begun with
the passing of
Eddie Wright, he has been with
Creative Abilities for 17 years and
will be sadly missed by his
flatmates and team members.
Three other management team
members left to start new
adventures, Susan Brown moved
to Ireland, Debbie Steenson took
up a new position in the CBD and
Julie Renner who has been with
Creative Abilities for over 13 years
and has taken the opportunity to
study for three years in Occupational Therapy at AUT. We wish
them all good luck! There are
some exciting months ahead
within Creative Abilities with new
positions being created to
improve the support for our staff
and ultimately increase the support for our Clients and it all kicks
off in April with the new Area
Team Supervisors (ATS’). One
other new thing happening is,
there will be an opportunity twice
a year for me to meet with
parents and guardians outside of
office hours. The first meeting will
be held Monday 4th May between
5:00pm and 7:00pm here at the
Creative Abilities Centre, and I am
formally inviting anyone who
wishes to come along and have a
chat.
We are well
underway
with the New
Year, so much
so that the
summer is
very nearly
only a
memory now.
It has been
wonderful to see everyone
looking so healthy, happy and
lightly tanned over the summer
months. We sadly said our
farewells to Susan at the end of
February, and wished her well for
her new adventures overseas. As I
write she is tramping in the
tropical forests of Asia before
heading off to Ireland at the
beginning of April. I’m sure many
of you are already missing her
bright bubbly smile. We have been
fortunate to find Amanda Aarons
to fill the Social Worker role, and
I’m confident you will all come to
enjoy working with her too.
Ronald and Cassandra have been
working in the afternoons and
evenings visiting the houses to
ensure that everyone is healthy
and well. It is proving a great
opportunity for them to hear
about any medical concerns
before they become a problem. At
the Reviews late last year we did
talk with you about updating the
All About Me documents, some of
which we have received. We know
it is quite a lot of work however
for those still to be completed,
please ring us if you would like
some assistance as it is important
we can have these finalised as
soon as possible. You can email,
send in hard copies, scan photos
to us and we will do the rest. What
ever is easiest for you. If you have
any concerns or queries, please do
not hesitate to contact me.
Happy Easter to you all!
By: Christina Vaingalo, Residential
Team Manager
TO CONTACT STEVE
steve@creativeabilities.co.nz
Phone 964 0211
FRIENDLY REMINDER:
The Centre will be closed
3rd April (Easter Friday)
&
6th April (Easter Monday)
TO CONTACT ELLICE
ellice@creativeabilities.co.nz
Phone 964 0213
As we all know Julie Renner, our
previous Training Manager is no
longer with us. Christina is the
new contact person for any
staff relation training enquiries,
including Careerforce. Jenna King,
our current Gym Supervisor will be
offering Practical Training to team
members on how to support our
clients safely, this training will be
taking place in the team meetings.
Team members have just
completed ‘Informed Consent’
training at our February team
meetings, this was done by
Nationwide Health & Disability
Advocacy Service, and we will be
doing ‘Wound Dressing’ for the
April team meetings. Some team
members and clients are now
halfway through the Sign
Language classes.
TO CONTACT CHRISTINA
christina@creativeabilities.co.nz
Phone 964 0219
Happy Easter !
Creative Abilities
wishes everyone a
Happy &
Safe
Easter !