That is a quote from our office manager in the Philippines’ office, Grace Subida. This Christmas, W&L were able to assist the poor in Barangay Calawisan, Lapu-Lapu City in the Philippines by providing gift packs of food and supplies to 110 families.

On top of a substantial donation by W&L, all of the staff in the Australian head office donated to achieve our goal of feeding 110 families at Christmas. It was a real blessing to donate and know that 100% of their donation was going to the beneficiaries.

W&L office staff in the Philippines gave up their time to distribute the packs just before Christmas. Even the local and national newspapers wropte about our generosity (please click through to the links below to read the full story). Our graphic design “dude” has also prepared a short video of our Christmas party in the Philippines and the giving out of our Christmas hampers.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/117109/villagers-get-gift-packs-from-australian-firm

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/116515/aussie-firm-gives-noche-buena-packs-to-110-lapu-families

http://cdn.ph/news_details.php?id=12077

Firm continues growing by extending office opening hours to meet high demand

(December 16, 2011) – National mobile healthcare provider Wellness & Lifestyles Australia (W&L) has decided to open up its head office earlier to support its clients. Beginning in 2012, the Adelaide therapy coordination team will extend their hours to allow clients to request locum therapists, to deal with emergency call outs and to be able to reschedule therapy hours for therapists that call in sick. The new initiative will principally focus on finding solutions for all client and therapist requests for services. The aim is to be the most attractive option for the complete spectrum of allied health services for aged care facility clients.

The Adelaide office complements the Victoria and Northern Territory divisions of services and also the W&L Education company and W&L Consultancy division. W&L also have a Philippines office to support the Adelaide office with all administrative tasks.

W&L, which provides health services to aged care facilities,  now services over 13,200 aged care beds; this includes providing offline and online educational training as well as aged care facility audits around Australia.
“We have spent the last 12 months working with our team to identify ways we can provide a better service to our clients and really focusing on customer satisfaction. We are excited to be able to offer all our clients these extended hours which will ultimately improve health outcomes in our elderly patients” said the CEO of W&L, Nick Heywood-Smith

For more information, please contact Natalie Walker (Customer Services Manager) on (08) 83313000.

The dream of working as a physiotherapist for a major sporting team is often short-lived. In reality, many physiotherapy careers don’t start on the sporting field, but instead working long hours in an outpatient clinic within the same 4×4 cubicle each day.

With an emphasis on work-life balance, and providing choice for staff in terms of location and hours, Wellness & Lifestyles Australia is the largest physiotherapy department in South Australia.

Commencing a New-Graduate Mentor Program was a risk for W&L, but the high demand for their services almost made it a necessity. “We were a little hesitant at first” said Michael Peachey, W&L’s General Manager. “Once we had our first new-grad’s on board though, we realised their fresh perspective and enthusiasm fitted perfectly with what we’re trying to achieve.”

To make sure the program worked, W&L put a lot of thought into it first. With an in-depth induction, a structured mentoring program, a generous professional development allowance, higher rates of pay than the public system, and access to the largest network of physiotherapists in South Australia, success was always on the agenda.

It seems that it’s the new-graduate physiotherapists themselves who have really benefited though.

Peter Do, one of W&L’s first new-graduate physiotherapists, took every opportunity available to him within one of BRW’s fastest growing companies. “Here at W&L it wasn’t about how old I was, it was more about the contribution I made. It was weird. In a very short period of time I went from being a new-grad to a team leader. The mentoring I got from Kirsty Masters really set me up.”

Now, Peter is using his clinical skills as one of W&L’s ACFI Consultants, helping aged care facilities improve their government funding. “It blows my friends away when I tell them what I do. I’ve gone from treating one patient at a time, to now flying all around Australia, helping improve the lives of hundreds of people at the same time” said Peter. “My salary has gone up about 150 percent too!”

*For information on the W&L Physiotherapy New-Graduate Mentor Program, call Natalie on (08) 8331 3000.

The biggest problem in healthcare today is that people are getting older and living longer. Governments around the world are not ready for this aging population. In Australia there are not enough aged care beds or care packages to support these people. So who is going to look after our aging loved ones? Well, like many other countries, the responsibility will often fall back on the family. The problem is that the family members are not trained nurses or carers and often do not know the first thing about looking after the elderly and the issues associated with aging. So how are they going to find this information? Well like most searches these days, it starts with the internet. The next generation of carers are the internet savvy Gen Xer’s and Gen Yer’s who are used to getting information that they need and want NOW! It will not be uncommon, in the future for searches to be made like “feeding people with dementia” or “how a stroke affects the feet”. Wellness & Lifestyles Education has embraced this concept and has developed an online library of educational material to cater for this market. Information that has previously been educated to the nurses, carers and therapists working in aged care facilities, is now available to the general public to help improve the care of the elderly around the world. (www.wleducation.com.au)

Recently W&L did an analysis for one of their clients on their podiatry expenses over the 2010 and 2011 financial year. This was a group of 10 aged care facilities with approximately 500 beds in total. At these sites, W&L had worked with the facilities and the residents doctors to successfully get eligible residents on to Chronic Disease Management plans (previously EPC’s). The results were amazing. The projected invoicing total across all sites, if there were no residents on these plans, was over $118K but the actual amount that W&L had invoiced these facilities was only $40K. This effectively meant that the total price per consult to the facility worked out to be $12.14.

Even if these facilities were to hire a podiatrist full time for $40K, do all of the Medicare billing and processing  and provide him or her with all the equipment and sterilisation they required, there is now way possible that this podiatrist would be able to visit all 10 sites each week. This is the benefit of going with a company like W&L. They have multiple therapists servicing all areas, have been audited by Medicare twice with no issues and can save facilities a huge amount of time, effort and dollars. An exciting result that surprised the client and W&L!

With the end of the financial year rapidly approaching, the General Practice Network has seized on an opportunity to free up a substantial amount of government funding. The funding, aimed at low care residents, will help to secure therapeutic sessions across a variety of Allied Health initiatives. Even better, the funding will cover the entire cost of the session.

This is great news for low care residents that are currently paying for such services as it offers them the chance to secure complimentary sessions. Additionally, the news is greater for aged care facilities as it allows them to take advantage of allied health therapies to safeguard their obligation to their residents. For example, an aged care facility has the capacity to have all their eligible residents seen by a speech pathologist and dietician. Taking preventative measures such as these, will help identify issues before they become great problems.

Wellness and Lifestyles Australia has elected to assist aged care facilities in South Australia in understanding their eligibility, access to services and immediate securement of therapies. Our history of involvement within the General Practice Network includes working with the Mallee General Practice Network and Adelaide Western General Practice Network to deliver services under the funding. Now, we have the chance to assist sites throughout South Australia.

To discuss your facilities access to funding contact W&L immediately on 08 8331 3000 or via email before the funding and financial year run out.

Wellness and Lifestyles Australia is proud to announce that the Royal College of Nursing, Australia (RCNA) has allowed W&L to join its list esteemed list of “Authorised Provider(s) of Endorsed Courses”. This is another step forward for W&L and an opportunity to progress and optimise our professional education and lifelong learning programs with CNE points. The RCNA endorsement is designed to enable the nursing profession to recognise that W&L training sessions and educational publications are adding value to their professional development.

Endorsement by the Royal College of Nursing, Australia (RCNA) is considered the gold standard of nationally consistent course endorsement, indicating that we comply with stringent, uncompromising high standards set by the RCNA. The process involves auditing by the RCNA to ensure compliance is maintained and regular evaluation of program content to ensure that we continue to uphold best practice standards in all areas of our service provision.

Over the course of the next few weeks, W&L will be allocating CNE points to our applicable educational tools and products. This is a great opportunity for those that take their CPD seriously to get acquainted with the W&L nurses website to see what CNE and CPD points they can earn. Look for the APEC logo to identify RCNA endorsed products.

APEC Authorisation number: 110318001

Wellness & Lifestyles are seeking a dynamic Physiotherapist and Podiatrist to join their mobile allied health team. The positions are suitable for registered professionals who are seeking extra hours to supplement their current workload, or for those that are seeking a more flexible caseload with increased work/life balance.

Working with W&L you will experience FLEXIBILITY, REWARDS, OPTIONS, CAREER OPPORTUNITIES.

For more information contact the HR team on 08 8331 3000. Apply via the website or forward a resume and cover letter to contact@wellnesslifestyles.com.au

Wellness and Lifestyles has reaffirmed its commitment to our clients, our therapist and our employees by undertaking and passing a SAI Global audit on the 31st of March, 2011. The SAI Global audit review was designed to “determine the capability and effectiveness of [our] organisations management system.” It also aimed to ensure compliance with customer, statutory and regulatory requirements. The SAI Global audit is an assurance for our clients that by having W&L implement quality management within their sites, they are offered prudent systems that overcome accreditation stress, improve information from the floor and reduce unnecessary documentation.

W&L continues its momentum to deliver the best in aged care therapy services and our commitment to quality does as well. And for that reason, the SAI Global audit documented that no systems needed immediate improvement and that W&L ‘passed with flying colours’.  As a result, our certification in the ISO 9001 program continues and we couldn’t be happier. The audit review highlighted our “comprehensive documentation systems” and noted evidence of our “continuing commitment to improvement in system changes and updates.” It also emphasised our investment into IT infrastructure as secure and specific to maintaining our ongoing growth and sustainability.

The level of depth undertaken by SAI Global showed that “W&L consider the Quality System an integral part of their overall business management.” It also noted that our “good team approach within the organisation” was “evidenced through the W&L Credo and W&L Family Core Values,” principals we hold to a high regard and standard. The audit also reported on opportunities for improvement and applauded W&L’s movement to a paperless system allowing us to “escalate the system documentation, audits and improvements” regarding all aspects of W&L.

W&L’s vision is to become the benchmark for aged care therapy services in Australia, supply ‘best in class’ services that surpass needs and to be recognised as the industry expert on the needs of the older population. With quality systems, documentation and processes this can be achieved.  By performing at our best and ensuring our management systems are compliant, we continue to meet and understand the needs of the aged care industry.