Babbling Becky – November 2022
We’ve had a great few months since our last publication, though never without its challenges! Richard (our CEO) has taken a well-deserved break, and I have the privilege of stepping up to support our team. Some of you may know me well in the capacity of Director of HR & Quality. But for some of you who I haven’t met – my name is Becky Gardiner. I’ve worked here at Waipuna for over 8 years now, and am part of our Senior Leadership Team. I have lived in Tauranga for over 30 years with my wonderful husband, and our three nearly adult children (19-year-old twin boys, and a 16-year-old daughter). When I’m not working or with my friends and family, I enjoy a bit of social tennis and volleyball. As Director of HR & Quality, I am fortunate to work across all areas of our organisation, from our Retail team to our clinical team, and everything in between.
Our team at Waipuna continues to be kept on our toes with Covid-19.
Following a number of our Inpatient staff and patients testing positive for Covid, we closed our Inpatient unit for 10 days. Safety of our community and patients continues to be our priority. This swift action from our team limited the number in the ‘cluster’ and we worked with Te Whatu Ora – Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty (previously the BOP DHB) and their guidance to ensure our patients and staff were supported.
Hospice New Zealand continues to work tirelessly on our behalf, lobbying the Government for appropriate funding. We are seeing some traction with the first-ever national government role dedicated to improving palliative care services for the people of Aotearoa New Zealand having been appointed. The priorities nationally continue to be around understanding what’s working and what’s not, for patients and whānau. They are starting to address inequities, inconsistencies, and gaps. We are excited about the opportunities for this role. It will support the transition to a new way of commissioning health services with a strong emphasis on co-design with Te Aka Whai Ora – Māori Health Authority and equity for Māori.
Recently, we undertook our annual staff survey (which had been delayed by a year), and we were pleased to find that satisfaction within our team remains high. The feedback gave us some great areas to work on, and these will be our priorities over the next 12 months.
This newsletter will share with you our upcoming Remembrance Tree Campaign and the importance of remembering loved ones during this special time of the year. You can support this campaign by signing up for a 2-hour volunteer shift or purchasing a bauble at all three Farmers stores. Our volunteers will be at collection sites, located in local supermarkets and malls. I would like to encourage you to leave a loving message to someone you miss this Christmas, and donate generously. All donations made in the Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty community, including the sales of the Christmas Baubles at Farmers stores, stay in our region and are given directly to Waipuna Hospice.
This will be our last newsletter of the year. I would like to finish by extending a huge and sincere “thank you” to you, our community for continuing to support us throughout the year. As the year draws to an end, we wish you a safe holiday season.
Ngā mihi Becky Gardiner
This update was first published in our newsletter – Waipuna Connections, issue 81.
