Home » Podcast » Kalyra, at the forefront of the battle against ageism

Kalyra, at the forefront of the battle against ageism


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In this week’s episode, Geoff chats with Sara Blunt, who is representing Kalyra – Winner’s of the 2023 South Australian Community Achievement Awards – Office for Ageing Well Tackling Ageism Award.

Kalyra is at the forefront of the battle against ageism, recognising the need to break down stereotypes and prejudices. Through the co-location of a Montessori Middle School within Kalyra Woodcroft Aged Care, Kalyra has created a unique platform for intergenerational activities. Students and residents engage in shared experiences, fostering mutual understanding and empathy. Overcoming challenges, including opposition and COVID-19, Kalyra remains dedicated to the cause. Their program is reshaping perceptions of older individuals and challenging ageist assumptions. It exemplifies how intergenerational connections can pave the way for a more inclusive and age-friendly society, ensuring that ageism becomes a thing of the past.

Check out the Kalyra website: https://kalyra.org.au/residential-aged-care/woodcroft/  

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kalyracommunities

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kalyracommunities/

 

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Transcript 

[00:00:08] Christine

Welcome to Inspirational Australians, where we share stories of Australians making  a difference in their communities and in the lives of others. At Inspirational  Australians we acknowledge the Wurundjuri and Boonwurrung people of the Kulin Kulin  nation as their traditional owners and custodians of the lands and waterways on  which this podcast is produced. We pay our respect to elders, past and present,  and those who are emerging and extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. At Inspirational Australians,  we are inspired by the world’s oldest living culture and pay homage to their rich  storytelling history. When we share stories on our podcast,

[00:00:57] Josh

My guest today is Sarah Blunt, who is representing Kalyra,  at Woodcraft aged care. They were the winners of the twenty twenty three Office for Aging Well, tackling ageism,  award in the twenty twenty three community achievement awards in South Australia. Thanks for chatting with me today, Sarah, and welcome.

[00:01:18] Sara

I thank you and it’s a great pleasure to be here. I do  like to  talk about Kalyra  and what we do  and um we’re very proud of Uh of our  program down at Kalyra Woodcroft.

[00:01:28] Josh

Fantastic. Well, tell us a bit about the history of Kalyra.

[00:01:32] Sara

Well that’s, that’s quite a story  in  its, in and of itself. In fact. So um Kalyra was established in  eighteen ninety two. We have an extra parliament. So,  um and our benefactor  is Jesse Brown,  but Kalyra story and Jesse Brown’s

[00:01:48] Sara

story really represents the rich tapestry of the Australian history.

[00:01:54] Sara

The good, the bad, and the ugly. So Jesse Brown

[00:01:59] Sara

came out to this country as a young girl from Scotland,

[00:02:02] Sara

and she later married James Brown and James Brown

[00:02:05] Sara

was a pastoralist

[00:02:07] Sara

and James Brown. So with the James Brown

[00:02:09] Sara

memorial trust.

[00:02:10] Sara

So that’s how Jesse set the will in eighteen,

[00:02:13] Sara

,  ninety two.

[00:02:14] Sara

James Brown was a pastoralist and

[00:02:16] Sara

when he

[00:02:16] Sara

was a young man

[00:02:17] Sara

down in the South, east of South Australia, he and this is a bit of a, Uh,

[00:02:24] Sara

a bit of a trigger, a little trigger warning story

[00:02:26] Sara

as well. Because

[00:02:27] Sara

um, this takes us

[00:02:29] Sara

back to the

[00:02:30] Sara

days

[00:02:31] Sara

of, um, Uh,

[00:02:33] Sara

,  the Frontier wars

[00:02:34] Sara

and what was quite a rough history for our Aboriginal people. Uh

[00:02:40] Sara

so James Brown

[00:02:41] Sara

was charged under the Aboriginal Protection Act um with the murder of nine elderly Aboriginal men,  women and Children on the Avenue um ranger’s pastoral lease that he had

[00:02:56] Sara

now the matter um,

[00:02:58] Sara

he was

[00:02:58] Sara

charged but there was

[00:02:59] Sara

no verdict ever found

[00:03:01] Sara

because at the time

[00:03:03] Sara

they didn’t have the right witnesses and it couldn’t be prosecuted successfully under the newly established South Australian law.

[00:03:11] Sara

So that story is a part of

[00:03:13] Sara

Uh,

[00:03:14] Sara

,  History and we Uh, own it

[00:03:17] Sara

today because we believe that it’s really important that we don’t hide from

[00:03:22] Sara

Uh, History.

[00:03:23] Sara

.  And we have a balanced view of history in this country.

[00:03:26] Sara

Um, and we also believe that

[00:03:28] Sara

it’s for Uh, Aboriginal people to be able to recover from the intergenerational grief and loss of the Frontier wars.

[00:03:36] Sara

Um that

[00:03:37] Sara

it’s um, really

[00:03:38] Sara

important

[00:03:39] Sara

that we acknowledge that these things happened because it’s

[00:03:42] Sara

actually hard to heal from something if

[00:03:45] Sara

nobody acknowledges it.

[00:03:47] Sara

So we acknowledge the facts in our history. Um and we

[00:03:50] Sara

believe that that’s a part of reconciliation and truth telling that will take us forward.

[00:03:55] Sara

So that’s the beginning of our story. And one of the other

[00:03:59] Sara

things that I kind of know this thing I have to say.

[00:04:03] Sara

I

[00:04:04] Sara

didn’t learn about colonization

[00:04:07] Sara

and I

[00:04:07] Sara

didn’t learn about the Frontier wars and I didn’t really learn about the sixty thousand years of rich  history that the Aboriginal people have on

[00:04:15] Sara

this continent. When I was at school, I learned about botany Bay. And because I’m in South Australia I

[00:04:20] Sara

learnt about Matthew Flinders.

[00:04:22] Sara

So the other part of this

[00:04:23] Sara

is

[00:04:23] Sara

really um making sure that we have a Uh,

[00:04:27] Sara

,  a true balanced picture of Uh,

[00:04:29] Sara

History. And there was some pretty amazing Uh, Aboriginal leaders in

[00:04:33] Sara

those times that

[00:04:35] Sara

Uh

[00:04:36] Sara

tried to fight back against some of the bad things that we

[00:04:39] Sara

did. But also there were

[00:04:41] Sara

equally some great leaders in both sides that tried to bring us together.  And I think the establishment of the  Aboriginal Protection Act, for example, is a really good example.

[00:04:50] Sara

So that’s where

[00:04:51] Sara

Uh, History kind of starts

[00:04:54] Sara

James Brown. Uh much

[00:04:55] Sara

later at the age of forty married Jesse Brown, who by the end

[00:04:59] Sara

was thirty, she’d already Uh, been married and Uh, had a family um and

[00:05:06] Sara

who

[00:05:06] Sara

hadn’t survived um and Uh,

[00:05:09] Sara

,  she came from Mount Barker in the hills here in South Australia and her

[00:05:13] Sara

story

[00:05:14] Sara

is a

[00:05:14] Sara

really amazing

[00:05:15] Sara

journey of survival. She

[00:05:18] Sara

ended up travelling

[00:05:19] Sara

across Australia and a common co-coach at

[00:05:22] Sara

the age of

[00:05:22] Sara

seventeen, with small children going up to Hong Kong to find her

[00:05:26] Sara

husband

[00:05:26] Sara

had died coming back again.

[00:05:28] Sara

Um

[00:05:29] Sara

and so she was quite a resilient and feisty woman in her own

[00:05:34] Sara

right. Anyway, much later when

[00:05:37] Sara

Jesse Brown was um sixty sixty five or sixty six,

[00:05:42] Sara

James died and she Uh, decided

[00:05:45] Sara

that she would sack his solicitors and she would completely rewrite the will.

[00:05:51] Sara

Um by then

[00:05:52] Sara

um James had become quite wealthy enough as his widow, she was quite wealthy in her own right. And she

[00:05:59] Sara

rewrote the will

[00:06:00] Sara

to be Uh, Uh, Uh, an

[00:06:03] Sara

Act of parliament

[00:06:04] Sara

Uh, in

[00:06:05] Sara

memory of

[00:06:06] Sara

James

[00:06:06] Sara

Brown, which would

[00:06:07] Sara

provide services for people in need to ensure a quality of life going forward. Um,  and that’s then what the trust was set up to do.

[00:06:17] Sara

And interestingly, the first

[00:06:19] Sara

trust that was established, the first board of

[00:06:21] Sara

trustees had a mixture of

[00:06:24] Sara

cultural, different cultural groups um skill sets of businessmen

[00:06:29] Sara

and also had Catherine Helen

[00:06:30] Sara

Spence who was the first woman to ever stand for parliament in Australia.

[00:06:36] Sara

So um, you know, Right back then

[00:06:38] Sara

they had a gender mix, a culture mix and a skill mix, which is what the best

[00:06:42] Sara

practice is today. So that’s a pretty amazing bit of history and we have

[00:06:47] Sara

been building on that ever since. So initial services were around

[00:06:51] Sara

Uh,

[00:06:52] Sara

,  responding to

[00:06:53] Sara

paediatrics children Services, particularly um, relating to

[00:06:57] Sara

polio because that was rife in the community in those days.

[00:07:01] Sara

Um and then later on

[00:07:04] Sara

we became the sanatorium for tuberculosis in South Australia. Moved into

[00:07:09] Sara

providing

[00:07:10] Sara

community Health services, community Uh sort of hospital type services. Um

[00:07:15] Sara

and then

[00:07:15] Sara

pivoted in the late eighties to the model that we have today, which is around services for older people

[00:07:23] Sara

based on

[00:07:23] Sara

demographic need in effect.

[00:07:26] Sara

So we have um, residential

[00:07:28] Sara

aged care, which is what we’ll Uh, where the Montessori school psychiatrist. So that

[00:07:33] Sara

what we think of as more

[00:07:34] Sara

traditional nursing homes, I guess

[00:07:36] Sara

um we have retirement living.

[00:07:38] Sara

Um and we have Uh, affordable housing for people who’d otherwise be homeless and we

[00:07:43] Sara

have help at home Services to support

[00:07:46] Sara

people living at home in their community who want to stay in their homes for as long as they can.

[00:07:51] Josh

Uh, quite a huge Uh, Spectrum of services that you provide and have provided over the journey.

[00:07:58] Sara

So

[00:07:58] Josh

yes, Sarah, what’s, what’s your role at Kalyra?

[00:08:02] Sara

So I’m the chief executive officer. And so I oversee, I report to the board

[00:08:07] Sara

of trustees,

[00:08:08] Sara

and I

[00:08:09] Sara

oversee the entire business model for Kalyra.

[00:08:13] Sara

.  And we provide services

[00:08:15] Sara

across the Adelaide

[00:08:16] Sara

hills through the southern suburbs, the

[00:08:18] Sara

Florio

[00:08:19] Sara

peninsula and around to Murray

[00:08:20] Sara

bridge and back again.  Well, that’s really where our footprint is in the mine.

[00:08:25] Josh

So how many residents would you have, or people in retirement within your facilities? Uh so I guess.

[00:08:36] Sara

Well, we’ve got, we know that’s two hundred and

[00:08:39] Sara

fifteen. Uh, Uh,

[00:08:40] Sara

,  residents in

[00:08:41] Sara

Uh, three

[00:08:42] Sara

residential aged

[00:08:42] Sara

care facilities.

[00:08:44] Sara

Um, one

[00:08:44] Sara

of which is the one that’s undergoing

[00:08:47] Sara

Uh

[00:08:47] Sara

refurbishment at the moment behind me.

[00:08:49] Sara

And then we have about entitle, I would say about two thousand Uh clients, tenants, residents

[00:08:58] Sara

in Uh, retirement living plus the residential aged care.

[00:09:03] Josh

pennhurst is huge. Yeah. Well, finally, the

[00:09:07] Sara

older people receiving our

[00:09:08] Sara

services. Yeah, it’s great.

[00:09:09] Josh

I’ve got no grey hair either. So Uh that’s

[00:09:13] Sara

just a few shy few.

[00:09:16] Josh

Uh that’s, that’s amazing.  How many facilities are there in total?

[00:09:22] Sara

So we have um, six retirement villages. We have three residential aged care facilities. We have five

[00:09:29] Sara

sites of

[00:09:30] Sara

affordable housing. And then we have

[00:09:33] Sara

community Services extending into people’s homes right across the geographical area I just described. Yeah. All

[00:09:40] Josh

right, that’s Uh, that’s extraordinary. So what would you say are the key aims and purposes of Kalyra?  I mean, you sort of cabinet off, but what, what’s the main purpose?

[00:09:51] Sara

So, so today, so we’ve just been working on this. How do we

[00:09:55] Sara

translate Jesse Brown’s vision

[00:09:57] Sara

of providing quality

[00:09:59] Sara

services for people in

[00:10:00] Sara

need today in the twenty

[00:10:01] Sara

first century? And what does that

[00:10:03] Sara

mean because it’s very

[00:10:04] Sara

different obviously to what it was in nineteen ninety two.

[00:10:07] Sara

So we say that we exist, so people can

[00:10:10] Sara

live in communities where they feel they belong enhancing, living.

[00:10:15] Sara

And the reason that we have

[00:10:16] Sara

Moved to that

[00:10:17] Sara

description is because we know from the evidence that’s come out of

[00:10:21] Sara

Harvard recently, that the single biggest

[00:10:25] Sara

Uh, determiner

[00:10:26] Sara

of

[00:10:27] Sara

people’s quality of life

[00:10:28] Sara

and their longevity of life.

[00:10:30] Sara

Uh is their

[00:10:31] Sara

relationships and their community and their sense of belonging

[00:10:35] Sara

and that trumps

[00:10:36] Sara

everything.

[00:10:37] Sara

So

[00:10:37] Sara

that’s what our focus is.

[00:10:40] Josh

Fantastic. Uh, and one of the key things that helps set that apart for Kalyra, I believe,  is the co-location with young people at Montessori. Uh, can you tell us  a bit about how that works and how this is beneficial for residents?

[00:10:58] Sara

Yep,

[00:10:58] Sara

,  sure. So we have a really big

[00:11:01] Sara

focus on supporting people to lead the lives that they

[00:11:04] Sara

want. And what we know

[00:11:06] Sara

is

[00:11:07] Sara

that it

[00:11:08] Sara

shouldn’t be a barrier. Um

[00:11:10] Sara

and our normal lives Uh, with a mixture

[00:11:12] Sara

of people across all age ranges.

[00:11:15] Sara

We believe that

[00:11:16] Sara

intergenerational peace is really important. The site that we

[00:11:21] Sara

have.

[00:11:21] Sara

.  Uh, Kalyra

[00:11:22] Sara

Woodcraft.

[00:11:23] Sara

Uh Janet

[00:11:23] Sara

Moffat

[00:11:24] Sara

vale.

[00:11:24] Sara

.  We were doing

[00:11:25] Sara

a big refurbishment there. So the site was, had been Uh,

[00:11:30] Sara

,  established twenty or thirty years before and we were

[00:11:33] Sara

rebuilding it for the twenty first century.

[00:11:35] Sara

And in the process we needed to be really

[00:11:37] Sara

open and transparent and say to people who were coming in. You know,  you need to know you’re going to be living through a very big building process here.

[00:11:45] Sara

So if that doesn’t suit

[00:11:46] Sara

you, now’s not the time, but

[00:11:49] Sara

um, in doing so,

[00:11:50] Sara

we also were explaining about how we were building a community hub.  We were putting in a cafe and a

[00:11:55] Sara

gym, and a hairdresser

[00:11:56] Sara

and all these things and, and that we wanted that community hub to be something that people from outside  would come into as well.

[00:12:04] Sara

And um, so

[00:12:06] Sara

a

[00:12:06] Sara

woman

[00:12:06] Sara

was on a tour.

[00:12:07] Sara

And she said to the site manager,

[00:12:11] Sara

she was looking for her

[00:12:12] Sara

grandmother and

[00:12:13] Sara

she said, you know, this might sound really out there, but you wouldn’t,  you wouldn’t be able to fit in a Montessori middle School, would you?

[00:12:20] Sara

And he said, I don’t see why not. Um I’ll ask so that

[00:12:26] Sara

little opportunity

[00:12:28] Sara

presented

[00:12:29] Sara

and Uh

[00:12:30] Sara

spoke to the board,

[00:12:31] Sara

,  spoke to the school, spoke to

[00:12:34] Sara

the architects to

[00:12:35] Sara

see what we could bring together.

[00:12:37] Sara

And their

[00:12:38] Sara

story was that the southern Montessori school had started as quite a small school and grown rapidly.

[00:12:44] Sara

And they’d grown from being just a

[00:12:46] Sara

primary school to offering a middle School years.

[00:12:49] Sara

And then growing so fast that they’d had, they

[00:12:52] Sara

ended up in a school hall in a council

[00:12:54] Sara

hall. And I had to pack up every day.

[00:12:56] Sara

.  So other people could use the hall or

[00:12:58] Sara

not, and they were having this terrible

[00:13:00] Sara

challenge finding somewhere for the school.

[00:13:03] Sara

And we had a little

[00:13:05] Sara

bit of land

[00:13:06] Sara

with

[00:13:06] Sara

a

[00:13:06] Sara

building on that. We were going to

[00:13:07] Sara

use to do administration and things from

[00:13:10] Sara

during the build and then

[00:13:12] Sara

do something different with later. And that turned into the school. So

[00:13:16] Sara

it was quite a big project

[00:13:18] Sara

when nobody had done it before.

[00:13:19] Sara

.  So we had a lot

[00:13:20] Sara

of things to work through.

[00:13:23] Sara

We were very excited, we shared the whole idea with the

[00:13:25] Sara

community.

[00:13:27] Sara

Um

[00:13:27] Sara

and

[00:13:27] Sara

then found that not

[00:13:28] Sara

everybody in the community was

[00:13:29] Sara

excited. So we had a lot of Community

[00:13:31] Sara

engagement to

[00:13:32] Sara

do

[00:13:32] Sara

to explore all of that. Um, but we got there and we finished it

[00:13:37] Sara

in

[00:13:38] Sara

July twenty twenty.

[00:13:40] Sara

Which of course

[00:13:41] Sara

meant

[00:13:41] Sara

we

[00:13:42] Sara

couldn’t

[00:13:42] Sara

open any of the

[00:13:43] Sara

doors connecting us

[00:13:45] Sara

because

[00:13:45] Sara

everything was locked down because of covid. Yeah, that’s right.

[00:13:50] Sara

So that was all a

[00:13:51] Sara

pretty big challenge.

[00:13:53] Sara

So the school um sits

[00:13:55] Sara

right next door, snug up to the residential aged care facility.

[00:14:00] Sara

And we built during covid, we built a pizza oven

[00:14:03] Sara

outside in between the two because covid was an issue. So we thought that was  a way of getting around that. Uh

[00:14:10] Sara

and the children now are

[00:14:12] Sara

able to go in and out of the facility.

[00:14:15] Sara

Pretty well freely, although we’ve still got

[00:14:17] Sara

a little bit of the covid stuff happening around the place from

[00:14:19] Sara

time to time. And it’s been fantastic and we’re

[00:14:22] Sara

about to

[00:14:23] Sara

have a challenge with

[00:14:25] Sara

the um, with a big bowling challenge that’s going to be run this year between the school and the  people in the aged care facility.

[00:14:33] Sara

Um we’ve got

[00:14:34] Sara

children who are Uh, interviewing

[00:14:36] Sara

and

[00:14:37] Sara

capturing life stories of residents. Um

[00:14:40] Sara

Uh we have a resident who would

[00:14:42] Sara

like to go into the school and talk history because they have got a great passion for history.

[00:14:48] Sara

So

[00:14:48] Sara

lots of different things happening. Uh so it’s been fantastic and

[00:14:53] Sara

what I really like about

[00:14:54] Sara

it is

[00:14:55] Sara

that because they’re

[00:14:56] Sara

close and we have a close relationship,

[00:14:59] Sara

we’re

[00:14:59] Sara

able to

[00:14:59] Sara

be  a

[00:15:00] Sara

bit more spontaneous and pick up on the strengths of the people around and their  interests and bring those things to

[00:15:06] Sara

fruition,

[00:15:07] Sara

so it’s really heartwarming.

[00:15:09] Sara

And the other

[00:15:10] Sara

interesting thing because, you know, this is about tackling ageism.  It is that the

[00:15:16] Sara

children will

[00:15:17] Sara

say, Uh, I wasn’t sure what these people were going to be like, but they’re actually really nice. And,

[00:15:24] Sara

you know, and some of the older people

[00:15:25] Sara

said, I wasn’t sure just how these kids would

[00:15:28] Sara

behave, but actually, so it

[00:15:31] Sara

proves that once we get to know each other, we look past the stereotypes. Yes, that’s really important. Oh

[00:15:38] Josh

my next question is when do I move in? Uh, Uh, sounds like  a terrific ethos that you have within your facilities and Uh,  clearly very progressive. And in that progressiveness what other activities are  undertaken at Kalyra to to battle ageism referred to. And how does that help break down stereotypes?

[00:16:05] Sara

Well, I mean interestingly just

[00:16:07] Sara

to going back to the reference to the school,

[00:16:10] Sara

one of the

[00:16:10] Sara

teachers said to me when we were chatting just recently and she in her thirties,

[00:16:14] Sara

she said, you

[00:16:15] Sara

know, it’s been really good for me too because I was  a bit daunted about how this was going to go and what these people would be like.

[00:16:24] Sara

So she said it’s

[00:16:25] Sara

actually been fantastic for me. So I think that, um,

[00:16:29] Sara

anything

[00:16:30] Sara

we can do to break down the stereotypes to Uh,

[00:16:34] Sara

,  enable people

[00:16:35] Sara

to connect with community to be a part of  Community to have the conversations and get to know each other is really important.

[00:16:45] Sara

For example, we have

[00:16:46] Sara

a um, a history book which tells the story of um,

[00:16:51] Sara

Jesse Brown and the

[00:16:52] Sara

History of Kalyra and

[00:16:54] Sara

James Brown. And when we were

[00:16:57] Sara

rewriting

[00:16:58] Sara

that

[00:16:59] Sara

and gathering all the information. Uh we asked for a

[00:17:02] Sara

committee

[00:17:02] Sara

of volunteers from across all of our services.

[00:17:05] Sara

Uh anybody who was interested. And um,

[00:17:09] Sara

,  we got a great group of people who had Uh, all sorts of different skill sets,

[00:17:14] Sara

including research

[00:17:15] Sara

skill sets and historical knowledge who went off and

[00:17:18] Sara

went down to the mortlock

[00:17:19] Sara

library. And, you know, got copies of letters that were written at the time of James Brown and things like  that.

[00:17:25] Sara

And together we,

[00:17:27] Sara

we, we wrote that book

[00:17:29] Sara

and it’s easy in,

[00:17:31] Sara

if, if you aren’t

[00:17:33] Sara

willing to

[00:17:33] Sara

always be thinking about tackling ageism,

[00:17:36] Sara

it’s

[00:17:36] Sara

easy to

[00:17:36] Sara

slide into, oh, we’ll just

[00:17:37] Sara

do it ourselves.

[00:17:39] Sara

Um, but

[00:17:39] Sara

actually there’s

[00:17:41] Sara

people out there who are,

[00:17:42] Sara

you know, willing and able to be a part

[00:17:45] Sara

and um and to contribute.

[00:17:47] Sara

So I think that’s something else that we show and

[00:17:49] Sara

we show

[00:17:50] Sara

and

[00:17:50] Sara

how

[00:17:51] Sara

we respond to people influences other people.

[00:17:55] Sara

And I remember um my mother, my mother was

[00:17:59] Sara

um, Uh she had alzheimer’s disease and she

[00:18:01] Sara

was a

[00:18:02] Sara

resident living here.

[00:18:04] Sara

Um and we had her eighth birthday here which was a January

[00:18:07] Sara

birthday. So we knew it was going to be hot weather

[00:18:10] Sara

and all of the people that were attending the

[00:18:12] Sara

birthday were, you know, people in their eighties

[00:18:15] Sara

um

[00:18:15] Sara

and

[00:18:16] Sara

family members. And afterwards I got lovely letters

[00:18:20] Sara

from people saying, you know, thank you very much. It was a lovely party and it

[00:18:24] Sara

was so easy to

[00:18:27] Sara

you dropped my husband off with his walking frame or

[00:18:29] Sara

my grandma or whatever it was.

[00:18:31] Sara

And that, you know, it was so easy to use the

[00:18:33] Sara

bathroom and the staff were all smiled at us and

[00:18:38] Sara

were welcoming. And I think we forget just how Uh, how good we are at that, you know,  care at seeing the person

[00:18:48] Sara

and enabling people. And one of the staff said to

[00:18:52] Sara

me when I was telling them, this is lovely feedback. One of the staff in

[00:18:55] Sara

hospitality said, oh

[00:18:56] Sara

yes, well, she said I used to work in hotels and pubs.  And she said,  if we had seventieth or eightieth birthdays often

[00:19:04] Sara

people were really nervous

[00:19:05] Sara

about it,

[00:19:06] Sara

because often someone would have a

[00:19:08] Sara

fall or get trapped in a toilet.

[00:19:11] Sara

It

[00:19:11] Sara

was

[00:19:11] Sara

just scary. And she said, but

[00:19:14] Sara

here everything is easy because it’s designed

[00:19:17] Sara

for that. And

[00:19:19] Sara

people know how to respond to other people and to assist them. So it’s no problem. And I thought,  gosh, wouldn’t it be nice if the whole world was geared that way? So that’s what we’re aiming for.

[00:19:30] Josh

Well, that sounds fantastic. Um, so how do you talk to about the perception,  how do you change the perceptions of the broader community towards tackling ageism?

[00:19:43] Sara

So I guess part of it leadership, so we talk

[00:19:46] Sara

about what we do and we show people as we did, I suppose having the

[00:19:50] Sara

party for my mum as we

[00:19:52] Sara

do with the school.

[00:19:53] Sara

Um, so it’s sort of

[00:19:55] Sara

leading by

[00:19:55] Sara

example. Part of it is, and I say to the staff, you know, every single

[00:20:00] Sara

one of them is a leader in this space. Every

[00:20:03] Sara

single one of

[00:20:04] Sara

them when they’re out in the

[00:20:05] Sara

community, how they smile

[00:20:06] Sara

older people and assist them or, or just relaxed around them is,  is showing other people how they can also interact with an older person who perhaps  has got a walking frame or perhaps has got a hearing issue or

[00:20:21] Sara

whatever it might be. Um so,

[00:20:24] Sara

so,

[00:20:24] Sara

,  so we’re all

[00:20:25] Sara

ambassadors to, to tackle and to, to represent Kalyra.

[00:20:29] Sara

And we also

[00:20:31] Sara

will go out and you know, we speak,  we tell the story of Kalyra um and we talk about tackling ageism

[00:20:38] Sara

publicly. So I might go

[00:20:40] Sara

to, um, um, you know rotary meetings and things like that in local community groups. Might ask  us to talk about Kalyra to represent the um sector. Um we got this award and this is giving us  a reach out into the community that we wouldn’t otherwise have.

[00:20:58] Sara

Uh we try and post

[00:20:59] Sara

um some of our

[00:21:00] Sara

stories and what we’re getting up to

[00:21:02] Sara

and what residents are doing Uh, on our Facebook page and um, and we

[00:21:07] Sara

do our best to

[00:21:08] Sara

encourage people to go out of Kalyra and not just die in  choleraKalyraSo um, you know, we were discussing at a retirement village the other day.

[00:21:17] Sara

Some of

[00:21:17] Sara

the people were talking

[00:21:18] Sara

about a men’s shed and they said, we’ve decided we don’t want to

[00:21:22] Sara

have a men’s shed here. We want you to make sure that we can continue to access the one  at the local council that we’re a strong part of as  a community. That’s what we would like to see. And I said, that’s exactly

[00:21:35] Sara

exactly what we want to do. Yeah.

[00:21:37] Sara

So, so those are the sorts of examples I suppose and, you know,  we’ll go out and speak at schools and we’ll go anywhere really.

[00:21:46] Josh

So what are some of the other social impacts on residents that you programs have?

[00:21:52] Sara

So the aim is to

[00:21:53] Sara

enhance life.

[00:21:54] Sara

Um and to

[00:21:56] Sara

enable people to really enjoy life. You know, people might have some pretty big physical challenges um or cognitive challenges.

[00:22:06] Sara

And so it’s about knowing the person and being with

[00:22:11] Sara

them so

[00:22:11] Sara

that you

[00:22:11] Sara

can read them and support them to do things.

[00:22:15] Sara

So

[00:22:15] Sara

when my mum was here,

[00:22:17] Sara

Um I remember,

[00:22:18] Sara

you know, I’d say to her, oh you know, and what have you been up to? Oh, not

[00:22:22] Sara

much.

[00:22:23] Sara

Which is actually because she couldn’t quite bring it up quickly. But

[00:22:27] Sara

um I would say pictures of

[00:22:28] Sara

her and she’d been down on

[00:22:30] Sara

a, on a bus, down to Adelaide Oval and had  a tour of Adelaide Oval which she loved in the moment,

[00:22:36] Sara

but wasn’t necessarily able to tell me about afterwards. Yeah. So,

[00:22:39] Sara

um, yeah, so

[00:22:41] Sara

those are the sorts of things that we continue to try and evolve and develop and support people to do.

[00:22:47] Josh

That’s awesome. And how do you engage staff?  I mean, obviously you referred to your staff before and Uh, staff are  a key part of the residence life. And those in your retirement villages,  staff are really important. Have a really important part to play with residents,  no doubt. How do you engage your staff with tackling,  tackling ageism and what programs might you have that really help to do that? Yeah,

[00:23:19] Sara

so we have,

[00:23:20] Sara

well

[00:23:20] Sara

we have the

[00:23:21] Sara

values of Colorado, so I probably should just touch on

[00:23:24] Sara

that.  Um, so our values

[00:23:26] Sara

are

[00:23:26] Sara

um, caring daily acts of

[00:23:29] Sara

kindness. Um

[00:23:30] Sara

we talk about enabling

[00:23:32] Sara

others

[00:23:32] Sara

which

[00:23:32] Sara

is making things possible.

[00:23:35] Sara

Being a community

[00:23:36] Sara

in which we

[00:23:38] Sara

are whole, but we also have every

[00:23:41] Sara

individual

[00:23:41] Sara

recognized

[00:23:42] Sara

within that

[00:23:43] Sara

building on strength. So everybody has a value.

[00:23:46] Sara

Everybody has a strength that we can build on

[00:23:48] Sara

and

[00:23:49] Sara

commitment to being here for the right reason. So there are values that drive our behaviors.

[00:23:54] Sara

And then we’ve also got what we call the color

[00:23:57] Sara

of partnership, which is about being an equal partner with the person that we’re providing services  to. Um and that’s about not making assumptions about the person. Oh assumptions. It’s about really

[00:24:09] Sara

knowing the

[00:24:09] Sara

person and it’s about taking action

[00:24:12] Sara

and using that as

[00:24:13] Sara

an ethos that drives our model of care. We believe that it enables us to

[00:24:21] Sara

tackle ageism

[00:24:22] Sara

because it prevents us from stereotyping in a sense,  if we really adhere to that partnership and being an equal partner and really

[00:24:30] Sara

adhere to

[00:24:31] Sara

those values, then that will take us past any stereotypes we might have in our mind about ageism  and we do do quite a bit of training on diversity um and stereotypes and how we respond to the  individual as well.

[00:24:47] Sara

And person centered

[00:24:48] Sara

care of course is a really important part of the the standards that we have here in Australia and  that national aged care standards. Um

[00:24:56] Sara

and the Montessori Maria

[00:24:58] Sara

Montessori principle,

[00:25:00] Sara

which she set up for schools was about doing with not

[00:25:04] Sara

for and that principle actually applies across the generations as well. Awesome.

[00:25:11] Josh

Well going back to the Uh, seven years community achievement awards. Gala presentation ceremony at the  Stamford grand Adelaide. Uh, late last year. You were  a finalist in the office for ageing well tackling ageism award and I think we now have  a good understanding of why that was must been an incredible thrill and acknowledgement  of and validation of the important work that you’re doing to become  a finalist. But then to win the award must have been just a real thrill.

[00:25:46] Sara

It was fantastic. It was absolutely fantastic.  And especially because, you know, as I said before,

[00:25:53] Sara

we, we,

[00:25:54] Sara

,  we started this relationship

[00:25:56] Sara

in the build and

[00:25:57] Sara

then

[00:25:57] Sara

covid

[00:25:58] Sara

happened. So everything kind of

[00:26:01] Sara

stopped while

[00:26:02] Sara

the aged care sector responded to covid and the

[00:26:04] Sara

doors locked. And

[00:26:05] Sara

we

[00:26:05] Sara

learned how to wear masks and all of those things that we’ll probably would

[00:26:11] Sara

prefer to forget now. Um, but that

[00:26:14] Sara

absolutely, you know, kind of stopped us in our tracks.

[00:26:18] Sara

And then as we started to

[00:26:19] Sara

emerge from, from that and started to rebuild the relationship with the school and um,  um and open the doors again and um, move forward

[00:26:29] Sara

to have the award at that point in time. Was

[00:26:32] Sara

like an absolute shot in the um you

[00:26:34] Sara

know, it really re-energised everybody and really sort

[00:26:38] Sara

of fast track bringing us all back together again.

[00:26:41] Sara

Um and we had some of

[00:26:42] Sara

the school teachers with us that night at the awards, which was fabulous. Yeah, it was

[00:26:47] Sara

really

[00:26:47] Sara

powerful, I think for the entire team, all the people that had done all of this work. Yeah.

[00:26:53] Josh

I’m sure it resonated right through to residents, staff,  and all those involved in the facilities. And in particular for the, for the nomination of that.

[00:27:04] Sara

That’s right.

[00:27:05] Josh

Yeah. And so, Uh that’s, that’s really exciting. And it was there a key takeaway from the awards,  not something that stands in your mind from the event itself.

[00:27:17] Sara

It was a fabulous event. It

[00:27:19] Sara

really

[00:27:19] Sara

Uh, reminded me

[00:27:22] Sara

of

[00:27:22] Sara

the, you know, the value of

[00:27:24] Sara

strong communities

[00:27:25] Sara

and some of the

[00:27:27] Sara

awards that were

[00:27:28] Sara

um, Uh, given out that not aside from us, were

[00:27:32] Sara

really inspiring as well. And the people that were there were incredibly  inspiring and that community recognition is such a um,

[00:27:41] Sara

an affirming validating

[00:27:44] Sara

piece. That’s so encouraging. It’s yeah, it was great.

[00:27:48] Josh

Yeah, I always find it inspiring. Been doing it for thirty five years and yeah, Uh,  continue to get goosebumps and be so inspired by the amazing stories. We hear all  too often the negatives in Uh, in the well,  but there are so many good things. So many good people, really making a contribution.

[00:28:07] Sara

So that’s right.

[00:28:10] Josh

As, as winning the award helped your work. Do you think at all?

[00:28:14] Sara

Uh, definitely. So like I said, it’s in the,  in the short term it’s just lifted everybody’s energy and encouraged us and kind of helped us shake off the,

[00:28:23] Sara

I don’t know covid

[00:28:24] Sara

blues

[00:28:24] Sara

if you

[00:28:24] Sara

like. Um and it’s also really encouraged us to

[00:28:27] Sara

think bigger.

[00:28:29] Sara

Um

[00:28:29] Sara

and

[00:28:30] Sara

um and it’s

[00:28:30] Sara

promoted us

[00:28:31] Sara

to  a

[00:28:31] Sara

broader community and I was pretty excited this morning because I was down at Woodcraft

[00:28:36] Sara

and

[00:28:37] Sara

we’ve joined the Australian intergenerational. I can’t quite remember that in that

[00:28:46] Sara

anyway, I joined it and one of our staff

[00:28:49] Sara

is flying up to Brisbane in February

[00:28:52] Sara

and going to a big workshop

[00:28:54] Sara

there. Uh,

[00:28:55] Sara

in order to help us

[00:28:56] Sara

really, um, Uh,

[00:28:58] Sara

expand our skillset around policy development and structure and how we

[00:29:05] Sara

can do this even better. Because in a sense,

[00:29:07] Sara

,  this is

[00:29:08] Sara

the flagship program for camera.

[00:29:11] Sara

But we want to grow

[00:29:13] Sara

intergenerational

[00:29:14] Sara

right across all of our services,

[00:29:16] Sara

not just at the residential aged care where we have the um, the school

[00:29:21] Josh

is absolutely brilliant. Um and I and I must say  a very big thank you to the office for aging well for their significant  contribution. Their support has been tremendous over the past number of years as  our gold plus partner. And of course technically tackling ageism is so critical. Uh,  in, in today’s society we Uh, I was only reflecting when you were talking we Uh,  we have grandparents and we love them dearly, but then you step away from that environment we,  we are not quite sure how to handle other people’s grandparents if you like. Yeah. So Uh,  I think what you’re doing is fabulous and to be promoting the value of tackling  ageism is really critical for all parties. Not just Uh, the people who Uh, who Uh, slightly getting older,  but for all generations. And nominations for the seven year community achievement  awards. Will be opening again soon. So would you encourage listeners to nominate someone?

[00:30:30] Sara

Absolutely, because like I said,  it’s been fantastic for us. Also. The other thing about it is that the process is

[00:30:38] Sara

well supported. It

[00:30:39] Sara

wasn’t, it wasn’t a really onerous hard application

[00:30:44] Sara

process. It was really well supported and people

[00:30:47] Sara

sent me

[00:30:47] Sara

reminders so that I, you know, because it’s  a pretty busy life we have here at colour. So  it was, it was a great process to be  a part of as well. And I really enjoyed the awards night. That was great, fun.

[00:30:59] Josh

Excellent.  Well, if any of our listeners would like to know more about the award they’d like to  nominate someone or let us know someone that they feel should be nominated,  you can drop me a line at Jeff geo. Jeff at awards, Australia dot com,  or get on to the awards Australia dot com website. And if anybody can think of  someone that might like to sponsor an award, then they can contact me as well. So Sarah,  what’s something we might not know about Kalyra, you know, some pretty amazing history. Fascinating. In fact,  Uh and I love the fact that you own Uh, the goods and the beds, you know,  and I just find that’s refreshing. Uh, there are a lot of terrible things that happen throughout history, but to,  to acknowledge it is, is really important. So I

[00:31:57] Sara

think, yeah, Uh, and just on that point, you know, I

[00:32:00] Sara

mean we’re all human and we’re all you know, um,

[00:32:04] Sara

capable of

[00:32:05] Sara

doing

[00:32:05] Sara

things that we might

[00:32:06] Sara

not

[00:32:07] Sara

even

[00:32:07] Sara

realize at the time a bad things. But later on that’s how it’s interpreted. And I think it’s really  important that we own all of that and we learn from it because you know, what is that

[00:32:19] Sara

thing you know, otherwise we’re

[00:32:20] Sara

doomed to repeat the mistakes of history. So um really,

[00:32:24] Sara

,  um,

[00:32:25] Sara

,  embracing history I think is, Uh, is a really important Uh, an important piece for us all because we do,  we do learn. Yeah. And it’s not always it’s can be confronting,  but we need to be confronted sometimes. Yeah. Um.

[00:32:40] Josh

So what drives Kalyra to continue to improve service? What’s your main driver?

[00:32:46] Sara

Uh well, I think continuous improvement in a sense is in our DNA right from the very beginning.

[00:32:52] Sara

Kalyra has Uh,

[00:32:54] Sara

,  looked to

[00:32:55] Sara

always improve to build on what it’s doing to

[00:32:59] Sara

be sustainable to be

[00:33:01] Sara

here for the long term.

[00:33:02] Sara

Um and um, Uh and that continuous improvement

[00:33:08] Sara

responding to need and looking forward. I think  it’s just in our DNA. I think it comes from Jesse Brown. There you go.

[00:33:16] Josh

There you go. Just Brown. She sounds like an impressive woman.

[00:33:20] Sara

I think so I, I think she’s one of those women that um, should have her Uh, story

[00:33:25] Sara

should be much better known across South Australia.

[00:33:27] Josh

The Senate, why tomatoes, she sounds extraordinary. What’s the next project for Kalyra?

[00:33:35] Sara

Well, as I said, I think we’re talking about um reigniting. Uh intergenerational

[00:33:40] Sara

programs

[00:33:41] Sara

so that

[00:33:41] Sara

um and

[00:33:42] Sara

really expanding it across the

[00:33:44] Sara

whole

[00:33:45] Sara

of Kalyra. Um we’re also um right now

[00:33:49] Sara

we’re um really working towards embedding our partnership model and refreshing. All of that. Um and Uh looking at the

[00:33:58] Sara

model of care

[00:33:59] Sara

at Kalyra Woodcraft  so that we really enable people to live the their best life. Um Uh we’ve got new um,  legislation and new systems and things that are coming from the changes that are happening

[00:34:13] Sara

Uh, federally. Um, so there we’re also looking at

[00:34:18] Sara

the

[00:34:19] Sara

Uh, challenges of

[00:34:20] Sara

housing, particularly for older people right now here in South Australia

[00:34:25] Sara

and what that means for Kalyra

[00:34:26] Sara

and growth in that space.

[00:34:28] Sara

Um, and we’re a part of a um, a project down at McLaren vale whereby

[00:34:33] Sara

the McLaren vale hospital is no longer offering um services

[00:34:38] Sara

though,

[00:34:39] Sara

so its hospital services have

[00:34:40] Sara

closed. But the

[00:34:43] Sara

community

[00:34:43] Sara

board

[00:34:44] Sara

that

[00:34:44] Sara

runs that oversees the

[00:34:45] Sara

hospital

[00:34:46] Sara

site have got a

[00:34:47] Sara

number of other initiatives that are being run there. So

[00:34:50] Sara

they’re um,

[00:34:51] Sara

,  working towards

[00:34:53] Sara

merging with Kalyra so that we,

[00:34:55] Sara

,  we will continue to support all of those

[00:34:57] Sara

services and develop a

[00:34:59] Sara

wellbeing kind of precinct for the future. So um we know GP services are incredibly important to communities. Uh,  and particularly where there are older people. Uh and

[00:35:12] Sara

um, so,

[00:35:13] Sara

and what else we can do in that sort of space.  So

[00:35:17] Sara

supporting carers in their

[00:35:19] Sara

homes by

[00:35:21] Sara

having perhaps

[00:35:21] Sara

day programs looking into palliative programs, looking into

[00:35:27] Sara

gyms and allied health to support preventative health for um, older people. So they’re all

[00:35:34] Sara

programs that we’re actively looking towards developing over the next few years under the Uh,  strategies of this strategic plan. So pretty exciting time.

[00:35:43] Josh

Certainly no less that that’s for sure.

[00:35:46] Sara

Not alone. Uh

[00:35:48] Josh

and again, well worthy of winning the office for aging well award. Do you have any words of  wisdom or any others? Uh words of wisdom for our listeners.

[00:36:02] Sara

Um, I suppose if

[00:36:04] Sara

you really want to

[00:36:07] Sara

live well um, particularly into older age, then it starts

[00:36:11] Sara

with you right

[00:36:12] Sara

now wherever you are or whatever age you are. Um

[00:36:15] Sara

because it’s really important that we look

[00:36:17] Sara

after

[00:36:18] Sara

Uh, mental health Uh physical health.

[00:36:21] Sara

And we continue to grow and

[00:36:23] Sara

develop as individuals um

[00:36:26] Sara

and pay attention to

[00:36:27] Sara

those things. It’s really easy to get caught up in the busyness of work and you know um

[00:36:33] Sara

all the entertainment and media and things that are given to us. Um, but we need to remember to

[00:36:39] Sara

look after our physical selves and our mental cells. Uh because that’s really important.

[00:36:46] Josh

Right. Advice? Yeah. Where can our listeners connect with Kalyra online and find out more about  your work and the services you provide?

[00:36:57] Sara

Um, so the website is Kalyra K A L Y R re dot Org dot edu. And

[00:37:05] Sara

Uh you’ll find all about us there.

[00:37:08] Sara

And if you want to,

[00:37:09] Sara

,  there’s a, there are contacts and I can always send you a copy of the history book.

[00:37:13] Sara

Beautiful. If you that way Claude

[00:37:16] Josh

plantation go through the website they can get access to that. Yep. Terrific. Well,  Sarah, it’s been an absolute pleasure to have you on the podcast today. What  a Fascinating story of colour you do such an important work there at  Kalyra and it sounds like it’s just getting bigger and better. Uh and sounds like  a great place to think about for our futures. Thanks so much for sharing some of your story with us.

[00:37:49] Sara

Thank you. It’s been a great pleasure to chat to you. I

[00:37:52] Sara

like talking about Kalyra.

[00:37:54] Josh

I can tell. Well, I hope everybody’s enjoyed listening to the story of Kalyra.  Until next week,  please be kind because together we make a difference.

[00:38:09] Christine

The inspirational australian’s podcast is brought to you by awards, Australia. We recognise,  celebrate and share the stories of inspirational Australians throughout awards programs across the country. To find out more,  to nominate an inspirational Australian in your life, or to partner with our awards, visit awards,  Australia dot com. If you enjoyed today’s story,  we’d love it if you could subscribe rate and review to make sure you don’t miss an  episode. And to help our guests reach more people with their inspirational stories