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Our partnership with the Indigenous community continues
to strengthen and is recognised by events such as our annual
NAIDOC celebration. This year the Elders prepared
“Johnny Cakes” for all to share. We have also been successful
in obtaining funding from DHHS to establish Aboriginal
Artwork at the main campus, Robinvale College and
Murray Valley Aboriginal Co-operative. The artwork will
connect all agencies. The Elders of the Robinvale and
District Aboriginal community will assist us to broker this
project to a successful outcome.
Neighbour Day was celebrated in March 2016 at both the
Manangatang and Robinvale campuses with guest speakers
and refreshments. In Robinvale we celebrated with a
lunchtime “Hangi” cooked by the Polynesian community
and the theme for the day was “multicultural experiences”.
It was an excellent event and we enjoyed a very good
patronage from the community and from many
representative groups. Our Federal Member for Mallee
Andrew Broad was also in attendance.
The Ripple Effect of Ethnicities (TREE) Project is a
community venture which commenced planning and
consulting with the community from January 2016 hosted
by Robinvale District Health Services with the aim to
provide a safe, comfortable and meaningful platform for
people from different cultural groups to participate and
engage in the Robinvale community.
This will be a soft entry point to addressing mental health
in the community in addition to increasing intercultural
awareness and understanding in the Robinvale and
surrounding communities. This is to be achieved through
3 phases that includes - A cultural skills exchange program
for people over the age of 45 years; a mural by the
Robinvale College students on the community radio station
caravan and finally the Robinvale Multicultural Festival.
A focus group was held on the 3rd of May to introduce
the TREE Project to the community. This focus group was
attended by 31 community representatives from over 15
different cultures. This project is expected to take place
throughout this year up to November 2016
SUPPORT SYSTEMS & SERVICES
Our sound financial foundation allowed us to undertake a
number of key capital projects across the 3 campuses and
include:
• new air conditioning systems (providing for personal
comfort levels) to the main campus hospital and nursing
home
• 100 Kilowatt Solar Energy system (allowing us to be
less reliant on non-green energy sources) at the main
campus
• a new Phillips Ultrasound machine to replace the dated
unit
• Refurbishment of the aged care courtyard at the main
campus to make a more “user friendly” for our
Residents, patients, their Families and Staff to enjoy
the outdoors.
This upgrade has been made possible through the
fundraising efforts of the Murray to Moyne local bike riders,
special long time partners of RDHS. We are indebted to
them for their ongoing commitment to RDHS and their
generosity and enthusiasm for this project which benefits
all who work, visit or reside here.
The Manangatang campus had work undertaken to
remodel the front patio area to make it safe, secure and
weather proof. This project has provided a lovely setting
for our residents to relax outdoors with family and friends
or when celebrating a special occasion.
A number of other capital improvements have been made
across the organisation, these are listed in the Director
Corporate Services report.
Our health service wide accreditation has exceeded our
past performance. The health service wide Audit conducted
in August 2015 demonstrated a high level of achievement
against all 10 National Safety and Quality Health Service
Standards (NSQHSS) and indeed we were awarded 3 “met
with merit” in our Governance and Partnership arrangements.
Riverside also had its major Audit against the Australian
Aged Care Quality Agency Standards (AACQA) this year
and continued the success story. At the exit interview the
Auditors made comment about the significant shift in
culture within RDHS and that Staff had obviously embraced
an environment of continuous quality improvement. Thank
you to all Staff and in particular the Quality team of RDHS,
Gayle Nichols and Connie Chirchiglia and who keep us on a
well guided path of learning and improvement!
We also maintained our accreditation status for ISO Quality,
Safety and Environmental systems.
RDHS launched a new-easy-to use website during the
year, making it simpler and faster to locate information
and engage with the community.
These are significant achievements and our management
and staff are to be congratulated for the commitment and
good work in this area.
OUR PEOPLE
RDHS continues to strive to enhance our reputation as an
employer of choice providing the opportunity for people to
work in a safe, positive and rewarding environment with a
strong culture of teamwork and participation.
After four years at RDHS, Mara Richards resigned as CEO
to join Alexandra District Health. We congratulate Mara
on her appointment and thank her for her contribution
and leadership during her term as CEO. Under Mara’s
leadership RDHS has continued to grow and develop and
she leaves RDHS in excellent shape and well positioned to
meet the challenges that lay ahead.
During the transition period fromMara to the newly recruited
CEO, RDHS was under interim leadership from the RDHS
Director of Corporate Services – Vicki Shawcross RDHS
welcomed to the team Judy Shawyer as Director of Nursing
Robinvale District Health Services
Annual Report 2016
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Chairman and chief executive officer's REPORT