ARV - Arvida Retirement Villages

[artemis]

Not the first in the retirement sector to restructure jobs following the pay equity changes. Some were reported as changing job descriptions away from personal contact roles to non contact roles like meal prep. Some facilities have closed down completely.

There are always changes when a business model shifts. Can't blame the Nurses Organisation for looking out for its members jobs, but those members are well placed to move on if they don't agree with a restructure. Or the NO could coordinate crowd or other funding and open up a facility that delivers exactly what the members want in terms of functions and pay.

[justakiwi]

Most people have no understanding or appreciation of what being a caregiver entails. They think we spend our days wiping chins and changing adult diapers. I don’t have the energy to explain the realities to you, but man I wish some of you could walk in my shoes for a day, or at the very least, spend a day observing what I do.

None of these places can provide quality care without sufficient staff, and most places already have insufficient staff to properly meet their residents needs.

I don’t hold ARV, but if I did, I would be out. Sometimes holding true to one’s,own philosophies and principles is more important than money.

Not the first in the retirement sector to restructure jobs following the pay equity changes. Some were reported as changing job descriptions away from personal contact roles to non contact roles like meal prep. Some facilities have closed down completely.

There are always changes when a business model shifts. Can't blame the Nurses Organisation for looking out for its members jobs, but those members are well placed to move on if they don't agree with a restructure. Or the NO could coordinate crowd or other funding and open up a facility that delivers exactly what the members want in terms of functions and pay.

[Beagle]

I note the vast majority of ARV's care facilities are on the "gold standard" 4 year ministry of health audit cycle. I'm happy to hold and keep an eye on how this might change going forward as one of many metrics I take an interest in monitoring. I have no desire to comment on internal staffing matters and am happy to let ARV manage the business as they see fit. I think their care standards have always been close to the top of the industry and inline with the standards OCA and RYM provide.

If people want to attribute blame then do so at the Govt's door. Their miserable annual increase in funding (3% last year) has undershot the rate at which costs have been increasing for many years. No wonder care service providers have to be innovative....there's very little, if any, money in care as it is.

[artemis]

....None of these places can provide quality care without sufficient staff, and most places already have insufficient staff to properly meet their residents needs. ..

The company has a good rep and it follows they know what is required to provide quality care in their business. It's their day job.

It's a old management truism that the answer to a problem is not to add more resources.

[BlackPeter]

Most people have no understanding or appreciation of what being a caregiver entails. They think we spend our days wiping chins and changing adult diapers. I don’t have the energy to explain the realities to you, but man I wish some of you could walk in my shoes for a day, or at the very least, spend a day observing what I do.

None of these places can provide quality care without sufficient staff, and most places already have insufficient staff to properly meet their residents needs.

I don’t hold ARV, but if I did, I would be out. Sometimes holding true to one’s,own philosophies and principles is more important than money.

I see where you are coming from. Not sure though, that a shareholders forum is the right place to discuss this issue.

There are at least two perspectives to this problem.

1) Most people will want to pay as little as they can for their care if they need to pay for it by themselves. Not necessarily nothing, but if they can get a similar care standard cheaper, they will take it.

2) Most people will want as much care and attention as any possible ... and obviously, it they can get more time (they don't need to pay for themselves) from the nice lady / gent to do something with them, they will take it.

The normal method to align these two things is to ask whoever gets the care to pay for it. Given however that an increase of the residents fees does not seem to be an option, we do have a problem.

I honestly think that we need to allow Arvida and ultimately their staff as well as their customers to sort out this thing.

If Arvida cuts too many hours their care standards will go down and at some stage customers will stay away.

However - if they just cut some fat, they will provide the same care standards but be able to offer a better price for their services.

Probably it will be something in between, and we need to see whether customers like it ...

I don't think that the old adage of just throwing more money (somebody else will pay for) at this problem will solve it ...

[justakiwi]

We are talking about a reduction in staffing, not an increase. But believe me, you are wrong. In hands on jobs like caregiving more staff makes a huge difference. Quality care does not simply mean practical care such as showering, serving meals, giving medication. It also means spending time with your residents - building relationships, providing emotional support, and having meaningful interactions with them. These are things that staff already struggle to find time to do. A reduction in hours will make it damned near impossible.

The company has a good rep and it follows they know what is required to provide quality care in their business. It's their day job.

It's a old management truism that the answer to a problem is not to add more resources.

[justakiwi]

Call me naive but I had hoped that I might not be the only retirement sector shareholder, who invests for reasons other than just monetary gain.

Not sure though, that a shareholders forum is the right place to discuss this issue.

[BlackPeter]

We are talking about a reduction in staffing, not an increase. But believe me, you are wrong. In hands on jobs like caregiving more staff makes a huge difference. Quality care does not simply mean practical care such as showering, serving meals, giving medication. It also means spending time with your residents - building relationships, providing emotional support, and having meaningful interactions with them. These are things that staff already struggle to find time to do. A reduction in hours will make it damned near impossible.

Absolutely. However - staff salaries did rise much faster than any government subsidies, i.e. something has to give. How do you propose to pay for maintaining the existing staff?

[Greekwatchdog]

Sometimes shareholders have to take a back step for sake of the staff. Win win situation.. As a shareholders this makes me unhappy as compromising health and safety goes against what these businesses promote and stand for

[Beagle]

We are talking about a reduction in staffing, not an increase. But believe me, you are wrong. In hands on jobs like caregiving more staff makes a huge difference. Quality care does not simply mean practical care such as showering, serving meals, giving medication. It also means spending time with your residents - building relationships, providing emotional support, and having meaningful interactions with them. These are things that staff already struggle to find time to do. A reduction in hours will make it damned near impossible.

My Mum is in care with CHT Halldene and finds the care standard first class. She gets the things you mentioned that I highlighted from her abundance of friends and family who are all hugely supportive including myself and my wife. She tells me the staff are very friendly and attentive but go about their duties in a highly professional way whilst being mindful to be very efficient with their time. Many in the facility are envious of the number of visitors my Mum gets and the amount of support she gets from us. Its the lonely old souls in there that I feel sorry for. In an ideal world the staff would have time to spend extra time with them to comfort and befriend them. Unfortunately my friend, we do not live in an ideal world and there is very, very little money in providing care services. Even for a charitable trust like CHT they have to be efficient with their allocation of staff and resources. I think something like half the residents in there are not "cognos mentis". How much time do you spend with someone who sits in their chair all day and says "help me" over and over and over again ?

My Mum has earned the nickname of Padre in there because she is happy at meal times to sit with the ones who's mind has gone and talk to them nicely as though they are still there mentally. Sometimes she talks to them about Christian things, other times she recalls happy memories from her nursing days or her times as a pastor's wife. She will be going to be with God soon and I am doing my best to come to terms with that.

One time I was in there at dinner time in the lounge and the staff offered me dinner. I wondered with my grey hair whether they had mistaken me for a resident lol