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 Givers are amazing friends…
In the words of Barbara Bush, "Giving frees us from
the familiar territory of our own needs by opening
our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by
the need of others".
This year, our 27th, just like every year since
we were founded in 1987, Forsight is blessed
with givers. Givers whose selflessness and
generosity impacts on our residents in diverse
ways. Givers who are individuals, groups,
organisations, associations.
All community minded. All ages.
All bound by that wonderfully
exhilarating feeling of joy when
our residents are helped in one
way or other.
This year, we salute our
givers, our Friends of Forsight
who give, not necessarily
money, but of their time and
doing that little bit extra…
Like our cabbies who pick up and
deliver our residents with clockwork
efficiency, diligence,
enthusiasm and genuine care…
Like our doctors who live 24/7 with true
dedication to the health and wellbeing of our
residents… your care and sincerity at our
greatest hours of need are much
appreciated…
Like our community-spirited Rotary Clubs,
particularly the members of Carlingford
Club…without peer in their enormous
generosity… and West Pennant Hills, your
long-term support is gratefully appreciated…
Like United Way Sydney, a marvellous
fundraising organisation that has introduced
outstanding corporate friends to Forsight such
as Freehills Lawyers, Zurich Insurance and Fuji
Zuric. The staff of these firms have donated
their time and talents to various makeovers in our homes and gardens and staff from Hawker
De Havilland donated funds for the purchase
of air-conditioning for our Villawood group
home through United Way Sydney.
Like the Australia Irish Community and
hundreds of others who support
us with our Harold Park night of
fundraising…
Like our CEO, Trish, her
management support teams led
by Miriana, our office/admin staff
and our frontline carers who give
so much, so often, and so
frequently beyond the call of duty
and when we need it most…
Like parents and guardians who
recognise that the care of each
and every resident is a shared
responsibility of so many…
Like my fellow board members who give freely
of their time and expertise on the board and
committees… to govern an organisation
charged with the vigour of steering Forsight to
a solid and sustainable future, often against
very trying odds.
Dear residents of Forsight, you are in the
best of hands.
The hands of friends.
Chief Executive Officer’s Report
I have pleasure in presenting my CEO Report for the
year 2004/2005.
Our Volunteers – Achieving Outcomes for our
residents
The past year has been a year where we achieved most
through our Volunteers.
Our Volunteers have become the backbone of our
Accommodation Support Programs,
providing benefits to our residents and
their group homes that would otherwise
not be possible due to limited
Government funding.
United Way Sydney
United Way Sydney under the
leadership of Lesley Brown, Ron Carr
and Bryan Riddell who provide on the
job supervision and coaching in the skills
required to enable the volunteers to do a
professional job every time. A lot of
work goes into organising each Working
Bee and Room Make-Over, with a
number of visits taking place to plan the
work to be carried out to achieve
wonderful outcomes for our residents.
United Way Sydney projects during the past year have
involved volunteers from Freehills Lawyers, Zurich
Insurance and Fuji Xerox who have worked on group
home garden makeovers and room makeovers at Ivy
group home at North Rocks, Illawarra group home at
Glenmore Park and Amber group home Baulkham Hills.
Volunteers coordinated by United Way Sydney arrive
by the busload and give their all for an entire day,
gardening, painting and preparation and a range of
repairs to buildings and equipment.
United Way Sydney also supports the Foundation in
other ways. Hawker de Havilland Boeing presented
us with a cheque for $14,000 at their Christmas Party at
Bankstown Airport in 2004 to cover the purchase and
installation of an air conditioner at our Camelia group
home in Villawood. What an outcome for our residents
at Villawood! What a difference has been made to the
lives of the five residents by the installation of reverse
cycle air conditioning! We could never have done it
without this donation!
In this report we have featured United Way Sydney
projects and people to acknowledge the contribution
made by the many volunteers in 2004/2005. I am sure
everyone will enjoy reading about the fun we all had
together.
The Rotary Room
Our 2005/2006 project is being funded by the Rotary
Club of Carlingford. The aim of this project is to
construct a multi-purpose room at the rear of the
Group Home Support Centre, Grunsell House and
to equip it to make it functional for people who are
deaf and blind and wheelchair accessible involving
Community groups. Grunsell House was set up with a
donation from the Rotary Club of Carlingford
through their ‘House on Line in 89’ project. It is
wonderful that the Rotary Club of Carlingford once
again has come to our assistance to enhance Grunsell
House to enable residents to use the
room for recreational and social activities
during weekends and at other times.
The John T. Reid Charitable Trusts and
the Rotaract Club of Holroyd have
donated funds towards this project,
indicating that they were pleased to
‘partner’ the Rotary Club of
Carlingford to provide equipment for
the multi-purpose room to enable people
who are deaf and blind with multiple
disabilities to enjoy a wide range of
activities. A wheelchair lift is included in
this project. The Masonic Association
has committed funds for 2005/2006.
Rotary Club of West Pennant Hills
Our residents’ Christmas Day would not be complete
without the gift each residents receives from the Rotary
Club of West Pennant Hills, Tree of Joy conducted at
the Cherrybrook Shopping Centre.
Royal Freemason’s Masonic Institute
The Royal Freemason’s Masonic Institute has funded
a six months Blind Bowls project for residents to attend
Belfield Bowling Club on Saturdays. Residents from
Waratah group home at Quakers Hill, Amber group
home at Baulkham Hills, Pines group home at
Marrickville and Camelia group home at Villawood will
all benefit from this subsidy. The Blind Bowls project
receives funding for bowling gear, fees and transport,
plus a support person who is fluent in signing to assist
them to bowl and to participate in the social activities at
the Belfield Bowling Club.
Harold Park Paceway Night
Our Annual fundraiser at the Harold Park Paceway
was enjoyed by all this year. We thank the Carlingford
Probus Club and Lance Bone, the Rotary Club of
Carlingford, the Irish Community and Eddie
O’Brien, Phoenix Foundry, Logiplan Financial
Services, Urban Landscapes and St George Bank for
support and spon-sorship. We hope to hold another
bigger event in 2006.
Turramurra Ladies Luncheon Group
Marie Letts a parent and supporter of the Forsight
Foundation, was joined by Carmel Stuart, Trish
McGrath, Merna Thompson, Trish McGrath, Helen
O’Meara, Norma Scott, Judy Warrilow, Lorraine Hancock, Trish Wetton and Margaret Drylie in
holding bi-monthly fundraising lunches for the
Foundation.
Our Valued Residents
Residents have enjoyed going to their day programs and
to work during the week and on weekends have
participated in Hand Over Hand Activities with the Deaf
Blind Association, Blind Bowls and Blind Cricket plus
group and individual holidays.
On a more serious note, we are becoming increasingly
aware of our ageing population of both parents and
residents and the changing needs of both groups. A
Carers’ Support Group is being set up for parents,
guardians, resident representatives, parents on our
waiting list and friends to attend group meetings at the
Group Home Support Centre with an Aim to provide a
venue to talk about the achievements and challenges
they are facing and to enjoy some fellowship together.
The Baulkham Hills Shire Council has provided a
grant to the group to purchase a large barbeque in
recognition of Carers’ Week 2005. The format for the
meeting will be decided by members of the group at
the first meeting on 22nd October 2005.
The changing needs of our residents become more
evident every day. In 1978 when the Forsight
Foundation was set up, our youngest resident today had just been born and the eldest resident was 24. Our
oldest resident today is 51 years of age. Wheelchair
access is now required in four of our seven group
homes to meet the needs of our residents.
What is a
professional?
People who provide a service to
the community; people whose
service is based on knowledge
and skills requiring specific
training, extended practice and
continuing education; people
who are accountable for their
good conduct to both their peers
and the community.
(cf. Bass, deMers, Ogloff, 1996).
Our Valued Employees
In order to provide Quality Outcomes to our residents
who all have sensory and multiple disabilities, every
employee needs to have experience and skills as well as
education and knowledge to provide the highest quality
accommodation support programs.
A Code of Ethics and a Code of Conduct is embraced
by all employees, including Agency employees who
work regularly in our group homes.
I am extremely proud of the achievements of all
employees in our group homes during the past year,
including our Agency employees. We have the unique
situation where we have Agency employees who are
working in our group homes on a regular basis, getting
to know our residents and employees and working as a
team with our permanent workers.
Each of our eight homes has its own maintenance
needs, whether it is for washing machine or oven
repairs, or the roof is leaking, or the hot water is
running cold. All calls for assistance are usually
prioritised as a number One. Think of that.
I would like to recognise the significant contribution to
the lives of our residents by the Accommodation
Services Manager, Miriana Gazivoda. House
Managers, Paulette Nobin, Suzanne Corless and
Anna Galbraith work closely with Miriana to support
all of our wonderful employees. I would like to
recognise our Agency employees who work under the
guidance of Sue and Rod Henderson of Riverland
Nursing Service.
Lynne Pritchard our bookkeeper and Nerida Beatty,
our senior clerk, support our group home staff and
residents.
Dot Yam RN conducted staff-training sessions for our
employees during the year. Janne Bidenko, Deaf
Blind Services conducted a session on signing and
Dolly Bhargavia Speech Pathologist, conducted
sessions in Augmentative and Alternative
communication. Regular training is conducted by
Nutricia in Enteral Nutrition and OHS Representatives
were elected by employees at our General Staff
Meeting in September 2005.
External courses were attended at Renwick College at
the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children in
Braille and Orientation and Mobility and at the Centre
for Developmental Disability Studies on Autism.
Our Valued Board
To our Volunteer Directors, Michael Bailey President of
the Board, Frank Dean Vice-President, Ross Davis
Treasurer and Directors, Ian Hunt, Ted Poulton, Val
Morgan, Alan Dawson, Kerry Paramor, Craig
Davies, Trish Deane and Phillip Andrew, thank you
all for your volunteer contribution to the Board and the
Board Committees. You inspire us to achieve.
Our Valued Board Committees
To Bill Wooldridge, Paula Rainbow, Lucy Jones,
Richard Blackall and Liz Stephens who volunteer their
services to work alongside Board members on our
Board Committees I thank you on behalf of our
residents and employees.
We Value our Interface with other Services
Thirty-two residents travel to eleven different day
services by 9am each weekday. These services compete
for our time from 7am to 9am and again at 3pm into
the evening. Our taxi drivers are an integral part of our
daily transport system. Thank you.
Our Future
Where to from here? We are finding out that we
cannot be all things to all people - we can only provide
services according to our capacity. We have applied for
additional funding to ensure that we able to continue
providing quality accommodation support programs
now and into the future.
Trish Wetton.. |
