THURSDAY 3 MARCH - Sweet Adelaide

An early morning departure from Melbourne, a 90 minute flight, half an hour time difference, five degrees warmer at 25C and it's Adelaide in South Australia. I was met at the airport by my host and guide for the day Jane McLeay, Admissions Manager of Eldercare, together with her monster truck complete with kangaroo bars.


We spent the day visiting three of Eldercare's 12 sites, located south of the city in delightful leafy suburbs. The first site we visited was Allambi, a brand new large care facility offering High and Low (nursing and residential) care and specialist dementia care.


We were shown round the facility by manager Susan Wirth. Having relatively recently joined Eldercare to manage this new facility Susan is justifiably proud of this high quality replacement of the previous care home that previously stood on the site.


For me the highlight of this visit was my introduction by Jane to Allambi resident Mary Edwards. Mary allowed me to see the wonderful life story booklet that has been compiled about her life and her family by her daughter called "Memories of Mary Edwards". This is one of the best examples of its kind that I have seen on my travels and is very relevant to my study of the value of storytelling in enhancing dignity and self esteem amongst elderly people. Mary is justifiably very proud of the document and I felt privileged to be allowed to see it.


From Allambi we moved on to a slightly older but no less well appointed care complex called Oxford where we met up with manager Kathy Smith, Eldercare CEO, and my fellow IAHSA board member, Klaus Zimmerman and Sara Blunt, General Manager Residential Care. It was particularly interesting for me to see the adjacent Assisted Living apartments located alongside the Oxford home and to discuss the important relationship between the two accommodation options.


Another highlight here was dropping in on an afternoon "Singing for the Brain" session in the dementia care unit where local primary school children had joined the residents for their afternoon singalong. It was so good to see the children interacting so sensitively with the residents.

Our final visit of the day was to The Lodge in the suburb of Wayville. This is also the location of Eldercare's offices. Here we were shown round the complex by manager Anne Anderson.


I was most impressed here by the excellent work being undertaken by the lifestyle (activities) and nursing staff in the Ash dementia unit, where there is a real focus on behavioural management. I much enjoyed my conversation with lifestyle co-ordinator Sue Ellen, who explained amongst other things the work she does with residents on doll therapy using extremely lifelike dolls that she makes herself and that she supplies to other facilities through links with Alzheimers Australia.


My thanks to all the staff and residents of Eldercare that I met for their warm welcome and hospitality.

After checking in to my accommodation at the Adabco Boutique Hotel I was delighted then to be able to spend a most enjoyable evening at the Red Ochre Restaurant with Ian Hardy, CEO of Helping Hand Aged Care, Susan Emerson, Director of Strategy at Helping Hand, and Rob Hankins, CEO of ECH Inc.


This delightful restaurant set on the banks of the Torrens Lake in the centre of the city offered my my first opportunity to sample indigenous cuisine. My kangaroo fillet steak was a new experience that just had to be tried. Something of an acquired taste I think but very interesting! A great end to my first day in this beautiful city.

Location:Adelaide