Gisborne’s Kiri Te Kanawa Retirement Village, situated in the quiet suburb of Lytton West has a reputation for offering the very best of care including resthome, hospital and specialist dementia care
And with four-year certification, the ‘gold standard’ in care awarded by the Ministry of Health, that reputation is well deserved.
The dedicated team at the village have a depth of experience in nursing and care backed up by recognised Ryman policies and experts in aged care.
Village Manager, Jenny Wood has skilfully guided the village through the recent lockdown period due to the global pandemic and is thrilled with the way her staff managed the crisis.
Jenny who has worked for Ryman for the last 12 years and has held the clinical manager’s role at Kiri Te Kanawa for six years, was appointed village manager just as the lockdown occurred!
She said it was an extremely busy time, with a lot of information to get out to residents and families as well as a lot of questions to respond to.
“It was a challenging but also rewarding time,” she said. “Our community and staff came together and worked towards keeping the village a safe haven for all our residents.
“We were well supported by Ryman and the local DHB and their expertise was available to us at any time. We were ahead of the game and felt safe.”
The depth of experience in the village is demonstrated by the promotions within the management team.
Jenny says they have all moved up and increased their responsibility and value the opportunity to develop their leadership skills.
“Because we had such a great team, the skill level was already there. They were all ready to move to their new roles.
“They each admired the person they replaced, and they still have them as mentors to talk things through. We are all very motivated to be successful as a team.”
Sunny Sandeep has taken on the role as clinical manager and is excited about his new position. “It comes with a lot of responsibility for the care of our residents. I started in the role as a ‘Covid-19 fighter’ and now I am focusing on getting things back to normal.
“It’s been a challenging time, but we had the guidance from Jenny and felt very supported. We stepped up and were like family for the care residents when their relatives couldn’t be there. They really appreciated it and we had lots of thankful feedback.”
The progression has continued within the village with Aswathy (Ash) Sreedas, now hospital coordinator, Vipitha (Vipi) Vasu, resthome and special care coordinator, and Philippa White, serviced apartment coordinator, all moving up to more senior positions.
Another valuable team member in the village is sales advisor, Pip Griffin. Pip has recently celebrated ten years working at Kiri Te Kanawa and is well respected with her depth of knowledge in advising people of their retirement options from independent apartments and townhouses to serviced apartment living.
The Kiri Te Kanawa care centre offers residents resthome, hospital and specialist dementia care where all rooms have their own ensuite. Residents enjoy cosy warm lounges, lovely views with award winning gardens, delicious home cooked meals and friendly care staff.
Hair and beauty salons are also on site, as well as 24-hour security and a care centre emergency generator.
Jenny says, “Now we have more normality, as manager, I’m enjoying meeting the wider village community.
“We are looking forward to honing our skills, meshing together and most of all, looking after our people well.
You will be able to tour the serviced apartments and care centre at the upcoming Care Open Day on Sunday July 26. For more information contact Jenny on 06 863 3636.
