the Aged Care Today magazine featured articles

In the aged services industry in Australia, we are fortunate to have many leaders with the foresight and courage to innovate and take aged care services to the next level.

Aged & Community Care Provider (ACCPA) member Dougherty Apartments’ CEO Kelvin Neave is one of them. Dougherty Apartments is setting a new standard in aged care, as one of Australia’s only inner city vertical developments that integrates residential aged care (including a dedicated memory support unit), retirement living and social housing.

Another outstanding leader is Sasha Andrews, CEO of ACCPA member Woolgoolga & District Retirement Village Ltd, a retirement village and residential aged care operator in regional New South Wales.

Both Kelvin and Sasha stepped outside the box to attend the Studying and Advancing Global Eldercare (SAGE) Study Tour in New Zealand in November-December 2023. For Kelvin, it was one of many tours he has attended.

Here they share their lessons learned, and how these experiences directly influenced their leadership approach to further integration of their services.

Collaborative leadership

For Kelvin, the profound leadership insights he has gained from SAGE study tours have emphasised the critical role of collaborative leadership in shaping the culture of an organisation.

“The program reinforced the importance of fostering a collaborative and inclusive environment for both staff and residents,” he said.

Collaboration is key, and both are leading the charge in creating a community that extends beyond the boundaries of the building, and brings in the outside community.

Building peer relationships

During the tour, delegates have the opportunity to build strong relationships with peers and experts in the sector.

These lasting connections are now proving invaluable for Kelvin and Sasha, fostering a local and national network that they can lean on for support and ideas.

One of the more prominent messages Kelvin shared was the impact of traveling with like-minded industry representatives and discussing insights from visits to other providers during the study tour.

“The recent trip to New Zealand included a delegation of representatives, mostly CEOs from small to medium sized organisations, and we’ve continued our networking long after returning home to Australia by swapping information, providing peer support and keeping in touch with ideas we have progressed at our own organisations since being part of the SAGE program,” said Kelvin.

Information sharing

Both Sasha and Kelvin have emphasised the power of information sharing.

For Sasha, the tour provided the time to step outside the box and consider the future.

“It gave me an opportunity to clearly see where I want to lead the organisation and what left turns I may now have to take to implement lessons garnered from the program, with confidence,” she said.

For Kelvin the exchange of ideas and best-practice approaches among industry leaders has been instrumental in enhancing the quality of service at Dougherty Apartments.

Kelvin’s learnings have directly influenced the planning of the Memory Support Unit and environmental design at Dougherty Apartments, which focus on creating spaces that enhance the wellbeing and comfort of older persons, aligning with the latest industry standards and best practices.

Join SAGE in July

ACCPA is working in association with SAGE to provide a SAGE Study Tour to France, exclusively for ACCPA members, which will be held 21-27 July 2024.

France is at the forefront of the aged care industry, placing a strong emphasis on delivering high-quality care in both home care and ‘hospital in the home’ settings.

We invite ACCPA members to join this exclusive small group study tour, to delve deeper into France’s innovative approaches to ensuring and benchmarking quality in care delivery.

This immersive experience will provide valuable insights into the strategies and practices that have positioned France as a leader in the field of aged care.

The study tour guide will be Judy Martin, who has led SAGE programs for over 18 years and has escorted over 400 aged care leaders on these programs.

“I’m proud to look around the industry in Australia and witness developments in both the built environment and the services offered, which are often inspired by our tours.

“They provide an amazing opportunity for aged care leaders to expand their knowledge and their networks.”