Business Central December 2020

108 | Support network spread far and wide T T Sue Russell Enliven’s Kandahar Village, adjacent to its Kandahar Home in Masterton, Wairarapa. will offer the community a substantial retirement precinct of up to 52 two-bedroom villas. COMMUNITY Presbyterian Support East Coast G eneral manager of external relations at Presbyterian Support Central, Alisha Kennedy, says that some of the many wonderful things about working for the organisation, is the positivity of the people it employs and the team who are dedicated to really helping people to experience the very best life can offer. Presbyterian Support Central (PSC) has been supplying social services to the community for 111 years having started when Reverend Dr James Gibb, Minister of St John’s Presbyterian Church in Wellington, wanted to find ways to care for orphaned and destitute children. Track forward over a century and today, the forward-thinking organisation employs almost 1000 staff, across its Enliven and Family Works services and PSC business support team be- tween Taranaki and Wellington. “We also have over 260 volunteers who contribute so much, supporting staff and residents mainly in our Enliven homes and retirement villages,” says Alisha. At PSC one arm of the not-for-profit organ - isation focuses on social services for children and families. ‘Family Works’ aims to support and empow- er children, teens, families and wider commu- nities to thrive. “It’s a whole-of-family approach building on the skills and strengths of the individual and their family,” says Alisha. “It’s all about making sure tamariki are safe, families are strong and communities are connected.” Family Works teams operate in Taranaki, Whanganui, Wairarapa and Wellington. Within the services offered are social work and advo - cacy, mediation and dispute resolution, family violence safety, protection and prevention programmes, youth mentoring and restorative justice. Meanwhile, ‘Enliven’ involves itself with creating and supplying positive ageing services to its community. It operates rest homes, retirement village and services for the older people in the community, including the recently launched shopenliven.org.nz . It’s philosophy is based on the highly-regarded Eden Alternative model of care. “It’s really person centred. The Enliven team understands the importance of taking into account what the individual person actually wants, recognising their physical, cultural, social and spiritual needs. The approach appealed to our sense of how best to care for our older people because it is an elder-direct- ed approach.” There’s a strong thread of purposeful activity, social engagement and individual care provided through the Enliven pathway at its facilities throughout the central and lower North Island. An exciting new offering is Enliven’s Kanda - har Village, adjacent to its Kandahar Home in Masterton, Wairarapa. The village will offer the community a substantial retirement precinct of up to 52 two-bedroom villas. The development will also include a com- munity centre for residents and their connec- tions, and the team is investigating a social housing offering. The first 12 villas are expected to be com - pleted by late November and are currently under constuction by Devon Homes. Modelled on Enliven’s Kowhainui Village in Whanganui, also built by Devon, the units promise to be light, sunny and spacious. Pets are a welcome addition at the village as they are at Kandahar Home which is a real land- mark in Masterton. “It’s a beautiful old home providing high-quality care and the new village will add another wonderful resource to Enliven’s activi- ty in the region,” says Alisha. And should the need arise for additional care to be provided, residents at Kandahar Village will be given preferential entry into Enliven’s rest homes across the lower North Island and next door at Kandahar Home. The team will also be offering village res - idents a range of additional services such as meals and housekeeping. COVID and its lock-down brought challeng- es to the PSC team to maintain delivery of its Enliven and Family Works services – both essential services continued to operate during lockdown, albeit in a different way. “We still had a lot of vulnerable clients to care for. Our essential workers were amazing - the people in our homes and villages were safe and well supported, but we did have concerns about older people and families in the community. There was a massive increase in referrals to Family Works and many older people couldn’t access food and essentials.” To respond, PSC launched a well-being assistance programme, delivering food par- cels and essential items to families in need, particularly the elderly. “In our region we delivered over 200 food and care parcels. We also had a caring caller programme where vol- unteers called older people living alone just to check on them. Often we were the first person they had spoken to all week.” The wider community also responded in kind, providing resources for the food parcels and offering to help. “All our team are really dedicated to the health and wellbeing of people. It’s a fun or- ganisation to work for and I love being part of all the wonderful activity PSC is involved with, initiatives and programmes that have such a positive impact on our community.” “The Enliven team understands the importance of taking into account what the individual person actually wants, recognising their physical, cultural, social and spiritual needs.” Alisha Kennedy Trusted Legal Advisors to Presbyterian Support East Coast LEADING LAW IN HAWKES BAY 67 Ra es Street, NAPIER p. 06 835 7394 f. 06 835 1338 www.carliledowling.co.nz Commercial Property Immigration Services Building a Greater Hawke’s Bay 