President Geoff welcomed our guests Sandra and Simon Allars from "Taking Care Mobile Massage".
Sandra is also a member of the Rotary Club of Pakenham.
He then clarified the program of Club events for the next few weeks, with a special mention of the Bowls Competition with the Rotary Club of Monbulk next Wednesday.
On Wednesday 17 April, there will be a vocational visit to Narre Warren CFA, so we will not be meeting at Holm Park Reserve for a few weeks.
Geoff advised that we will have David Whiting as a guest speaker on 29 May. David is a lawyer who provides regular legal advice on the Jon Faine radio show.
He concluded by stating that Rob Wingrave has been successful in gaining a $2,000 grant from the City of Casey to purchase more Walkie-Talkie radios.
PP Adrian Funston (Funno) held up the trophy that we won at last year's bowls competition with the Rotary Club of Monbulk.
He emphasised that we want to retain the trophy and therefore we need a good turnout, so that we can field a strong team.
Friends and family are welcome to participate and you don't have to be a bowls player!
You must advise Fred at attendance@rotaryberwick.org by Monday, whether or not you are going, so that catering can be organised.
You should arrive between 6:30 - 6:45 pm for the 7:00 pm meal and it is recommended that car-pooling be arranged.
It is essential that flat soled shoes be worn and no alcohol is allowed on the bowling greens.
Since it is Funno's mother, BJ's birthday and her late husband Alan initiated the bowling competition over 40 years ago, she will present the trophy to the winning team.
PE Isobel Caulfield reported on a Forum organised by the City of Casey that she and PP Ricardo Balancy attended on behalf of the Club.
She reported that there are 17 Community Service Clubs in the City of Casey and 14 of these were represented at the Forum.
The purpose of the Forum was to identify how the City of Casey could help the Community Service Clubs to meet their goals.
Representatives from each Service Club were videoed summarising what their Club's major achievements were and what they got out of being members. The intention being that the video would be edited down to 2-minutes duration for placing on the City of Casey web site.
The audience were advised that volunteers could be obtained for different events by emailing volunteermatcher@casey.vic.gov.au
PP Gus Dominguez reported that the shipping container of furniture and equipment for the hospital has now arrived in Honiara. However, there has been some delay in processing the container.
As soon as it has cleared customs, it will be delivered to the hospital.
Dr Goldsmith, from the Rotary Club of Ballarat West, will be travelling to Honiara in mid-April to manage the installation of the dental chairs in the clinic and to assess what else is needed for the hospital.
Clare Ganderton reported that our international exchange student, Tara Wilkinson, is having a wonderful time at school in Grand Rapids, USA and is learning so much more than she had expected.
She participated in presenting a paper on 'Education in New Guinea' for the World Food Prize, giving her insights into the problems and providing possible solutions.
Tara has also had her first track and field competition where she achieved a first and second in sprinting races and was the best long jumper at the school.
She has joined the school's Interact Club and has also been volunteering for the Rotary Club of Grand Rapids.
In addition, Tara has been visiting several cities with her host family and has had her first snowboarding experience, which she loved.
Russell Dunn, who is a member of the Upper Beaconsfield Men's Shed, stated that the organisation has all the wood and metal working machines it needs, but has a shortage of projects to use them on.
He queried whether the Club members could come up with some projects that the Men's Shed could undertake.
In response, it was suggested that the production of toys for distribution to needy children at Christmas would be worth considering. These could be collected and distributed through the Berwick & District Benevolent Society Inc.
Our Guest Speaker this week was Sandra Allars. Sandra has worked in graphic design and customer service roles at a variety of organisations.
After the birth of her third daughter in 2001, she trained as a massage therapist and subsequently started her own business in 2004, which is now called "Taking Care Mobile Massage" (TCMM).
Sandra is the founder and Director of TCMM and her husband Simon is the Accounts Manager, while Rebecca Watson runs the Support Office.
Since 2014, TCMM has shown remarkable growth and now has service agreements with 36 companies to deliver home massage to hundreds of clients across Melbourne, using a team of over 30 massage therapists.
All the TCMM therapists must be members of a professional Australian Massage, or Myotherapy Association and have achieved at least a nationally recognised Certificate IV in Massage Therapy Practice.
TCMM's vision is to deliver Respect, Connection and Wellbeing through mobile home massage to the aged across Melbourne. The goals are to:
Make the last quarter of life for the aged, their best quarter
Connect with clients through the power of touch
Take care of loved ones across Melbourne
Bring massage to those that are less mobile.
It is estimated that the proportion of the world's population over 60 years old will nearly double between 2015 and 2050, from 12% to 22%. Therefore, countries must have in place social systems that will cope with these changes.
In Australia, Commonwealth Home Support and Home Care Packages are available. The Commonwealth Home Support Program is designed for people who can mostly manage on their own but just may need some short term help or basic ongoing assistance with one or two services.
Home Care Packages are coordinated packages of care and services to help the aged to live independently in their own home for as long as they can.
2.4% of the population aged 65 and over received Home Care support in the 2013-2014 period.
All home care packages must be provided on a "consumer directed care" basis. Consumer directed care allows those receiving services to make choices about the types of services they want and who should provide them.
From February 2017, Home Care Packages are allocated directly to the individual, rather than to the home care providers. The individual then chooses a provider to manage these funds. Now that package funding is assigned to the consumer rather than the provider, the resulting competition gives the consumer a much greater bargaining power and they can “shop around” to make sure they are getting the best services for their money.
An Aged Care Assessment Service (ACAS) assessment and approval is required if the person has complex aged care needs and wants to access aged care services through any level of Home Care Package.
There are four levels as shown in the diagram.
Each level of home care packages provides a different subsidy amount, so the amount of funding a Home Care recipient receives depends on their assessed level of need..
The services available through the Home Care Package include, but are not limited to:
Personal services
Nutrition, hydration, meal preparation and diet
Continence management
Mobility and dexterity
Nursing, allied health and other clinical services
Transport and personal assistance
Management of skin integrity
Massage is one of the clinical services included.
The aim at TCMM is to make the last quarter of life, the best quarter. The massage service is, of course, only one small part of someone’s life, but it is a significant one. The relationship between client and team member is real and it has a direct impact on their wellbeing.
Everyone has influence and it’s so important to remain aware of the influence the therapists are having every day.
Rotary International's new monthly theme for April is
Maternal and Child Health!
Every day mothers risk their lives giving birth and millions of children die each year from treatable, preventable causes.
At least 7 million children under the age of five die each year due to malnutrition, poor health care, and inadequate sanitation.
To help reduce this rate, Rotary provides immunizations and antibiotics to babies, improves access to essential medical services, and supports trained health care providers for mothers and their children.
Rotary’s projects ensure sustainability by empowering the local community to take ownership of health care training programs.
Maternal and Child Health Care is also recognized as one of Rotary’s Six Areas of Focus.
To get more information and read news about Rotary's work to promote maternal and child health can be found at the link below:
(Photos provided by Ricardo Balancy and Sandi Tarant)
NOTICES
Mystery Progressive Dinner on Saturday 25th May, 2019 at 6.30pm
Members and partners of the Inner Wheel and Rotary Clubs of Berwick are invited to participate in this highly popular event.
For this to work, all participants must be prepared to host a course with accompanying drinks. Fancy cooking is NOT a pre-requisite, the company, and getting to know people in the privacy and ambience of our homes is the reward for the evening. Pre-purchased food is quite acceptable for those not confident in the kitchen.
Nominated couples prepare an entree course with accompanying drinks for three couples.
At 6.00 pm two couples arrive at their home, and the 6 sit down for entree/soup course.
At 6.45 pm the hosts open an envelope and let everyone know where each couple is to head off for main course. (One or two of these couples may be going back home to serve main course to their mystery guests).
At 7.15 pm two couples will arrive at the nominated main course home and the 6 different people will enjoy main course together with accompanying drinks. At 8.15 the next envelope will be opened to let these three couples know where each is headed for dessert course.
At 8.45 pm two couples will arrive at the nominated dessert course home to share dessert course together and at 9.30pm the final envelope will be opened to announce where everybody participating will congregate for coffee/tea.
At 10.00 pm everyone will arrive at the final home for tea/coffee, chocolates and reminiscences about where they have been all evening and who they have socialised with.
If you are single and do not have a friend to partner up with, the organisers can either partner you up with someone, or we can slot single people in.
If you wish to participate in this fun event, please be aware that a lot of juggling by the organisers goes into fitting all participants into the homes, so a firm commitment is required so that other participants are not disappointed if you fail to turn up and host a course on the night.
Please fill in the accompanying sheet with your names, which course you would prefer to serve (some adjustments may need to be made according to demand), and how many you can accommodate around your dining table, in case we don’t have equal numbers of participants, and your mobile number for communication if required. Please send the completed sheet to kayandgeoffrankin@bigpond.com.
Envelopes stating which course you will be hosting, where you will be going for entree (not to be opened before 5pm on the day) and containing destinations for your guests (not to be opened before the guests are present in your home), will be distributed to you approximately one week before the event.
Please do not discuss what course you are hosting with others before the event. The element of surprise is a great part of the fun.