Onemda Weekly eNews - Friday 28 April, 2023

Dear Participants, Families & Carers,

It’s been another short week but we hope it has been a good one for you and yours – certainly, the weather has been kind to us and it’s been great to see everyone out and about enjoying their programs and Onemda’s outdoor spaces.

As always, there is plenty to catch up on in this issue, so please take time to check the updates below, as some information may affect you, or the person in your care.

LOOKING FOR MORE DAYS? PLACES NOW AVAILABLE!

If you have been considering increasing the number of days you attend Onemda programs, and have funding available, we currently have openings in various programs across our campuses at the moment. Traditionally, these places fill very quickly, so we wanted to offer existing program participants the opportunity to extend their services before they are all snapped up by new enrolments. If you are interested, please speak to your Campus Coordinator without delay, to see whether we have capacity in the areas that will suit you.

CONGRATULATIONS LUCAS!

Lucas Vasilev from Glenroy Pathways recently competed in the Melbourne West Special Olympics Basketball Regional Games. He says, “My basketball team came first in the Victorian Special Olympics on the weekend. Everyone in my team got a blue ribbon for winning. We were very excited when we won. Our score was double the other team. I shot a three-pointer in the game. This is a long distance away from the hoop. I was very happy. Everyone in my family saw me win, even my aunty and uncle. I brought my ribbon to Onemda to show my friends. I feel very proud."

Fantastic achievement, Lucas – thank you so much for sharing with us!

WORLD DAY FOR SAFETY & HEALTH AT WORK

Today is World Day for Safety & Health at Work. A safe and healthy working environment is a fundamental principle and right at work. Onemda’s values are people-focused, and we are committed to creating a safe and healthy workplace for everyone. The aim of this campaign is to get everyone talking about safe and healthy workplaces which you can read more about here. We extend our thanks to our Onemda team for working together to ensure safety in our workplace, every day.

CONSENT FORMS NOW OVERDUE!

The NDIS requires that every participant in Onemda programs returns a completed Consent Form. This is needed to comply with their regulations and to ensure we can continue to deliver services to you or the person in your care.

The return of these forms is now well overdue, so if you have not yet returned your copy to us we would ask that you do so without further delay. They provide important information we need to deliver our services and give us the permission we need to use and disclose that information if necessary.

If you have not yet done so, please complete and return it by one of the following methods:

email it to [email protected]
return a to us inside the participant communication diary
pass a printed copy to the Manager you deal with directly, or
if you attend Doncaster East Main Campus, you can hand over to Reception.

If you have already returned your form, thank you. If you have any questions about this form, or how to return it to us, please contact us without delay. You can email Onemda’s Contracts Administrator on [email protected] or call us on 98421955.

UPDATE – FEES & CHARGES

Starting from mid-May, you may see a couple of unfamiliar fees and charges on your Onemda invoices. These are not new fees – they are in the NDIS Price Guide and your Service Agreement – but we have not been charging them while services were limited due to COVID restrictions. Now that everyone is back on-site and services are running as normal, they will once again be applied, so we wanted to remind you what they are, and what they cover.

Firstly, the Early Drop-Off & Late Pick-Up charge applies when a program participant is dropped off before 9am or picked up after 3pm, to cover the cost of the additional staff required to makes sure each individual is safe and well looked after while on-site. The charge is based on how long the person is on-site out of program hours.

The second charge is the Activity-Based Transport charge, which helps cover the cost of providing transport to and from community-based activities. It is based on the kilometres travelled per fortnight, and covers the costs involved in running and maintaining our fleet of vehicles which provide vital transport to these popular and important activities.

If you have any questions about these, or any of Onemda’s charges, you are welcome to contact us on 9842 1955.

HELP US FIND NEW TEAM MEMBERS!

Are you, or someone you know looking for a new job opportunity? Onemda are always looking for great people to join our team. We currently have vacancies for:

Physiotherapist | Eastern Suburbs | PT/FT
Exercise Physiologist | Eastern & Northern Suburbs | PT/FT
Occupational Therapist | Glenroy | PT
Disability Educator | Eastern Suburbs | FT/PT/Casual
Disability Educator Support - FT/PT/Casual
as well as volunteering opportunities!

If you are interested in any of our available roles, or know anyone who might be a good fit, please click on the link below and feel free to share with your connections.

View current job opportunities here!

CAMPUS HIGHLIGHT

GLENROY – Living, Learning & Social Skills (LLS)

At Glenroy staff and participants have been busy working on arts projects, including individual paintings and artworks prepared by the entire group for the upcoming Glenroy Festival (the group project and Matthew’s striking work are shown here). This artwork will be on display at the Merri-bek Council offices this coming weekend. Make sure you pop in if you can, to see it in person!

As you can see from the photo, we also celebrated ANZAC Day at the centre by making some wreaths and remembering in our own way the sacrifices made for our freedom in Australia and New Zealand.

It was great for Glenroy program participants to be able to attend the Onemda Council Meeting in person at Doncaster East recently to provide their valuable insights. The group was able to share their views on Onemda’s staff and what changes they would like to see made at Onemda.

We have been delighted to have a couple of newcomers join us at Glenroy in recent weeks.

Raymond recently moved to Onemda from his previous day program at St John of God. Ray is enjoying the company of other participants and staff and loves taking part in all the programs and activities we do here. Welcome, Ray!

We were also pleased to welcome a new Educator Support Olivia Menz to our team recently. Olivia brings a wealth of knowledge in the disability sector and is fitting in beautifully as she gets to know the Glenroy staff and participants.

Finally, it’s always great to have the opportunity to talk to potential program participants and their families about what we can offer at Onemda, so we were delighted to welcome groups of families and carers to our campus for on-site tours. There is a lot of interest in the local community about our services, which are a popular choice particularly as a post-school option. We look forward to seeing many of those faces again as decisions are made about programs later in the year.

We hope you enjoy your weekend and please remember; you are always welcome to contact us if you have any questions or need information.

Just call on 9842 1955 or use the email addresses below.