Tēnā koutou katoa
Suddenly, it’s February – apparently the month of romance, roses and all things heart-shaped (I’m writing this on Valentine’s Day)!
At Haumaru, our focus is on tenant wellbeing, and we want all our tenants to feel that we, as a team, will always be available to provide help and support when you need it. So never hesitate to call the Helpdesk or make contact with your Community Manager or the Age Concern Connector service if you need some form of advice or assistance.
We’ve recently held a tenant advisory meeting, and I informed the group that we’re looking at ways to refresh our model of tenant support. We talked through three questions at the meeting. What should Haumaru stop doing? What should we start doing? And what should we change? There are more conversations to be had, but we agreed that we should change the recycling process for rubbish, that we should start translating important information, and that we should perhaps change some of our methods of removing building waste. We’ll give these suggestions further consideration, and you’ll be updated if any changes are made as a result of the feedback.
Enjoy the warm weather and all that extra light in the mornings. Here’s hoping it will be an extended summer.
Ngā mihi nui
Gillian Schweizer,
Chief Executive Officer
Responsiveness is our fourth Haumaru value. We want our tenants to know that we’re here to help and that we’ll do so as quickly as possible. Between the Helpdesk and our Placements, Facilities, Community Manager and Finance teams, we’ll collaborate in the background to ensure we respond to you as quickly and as efficiently as possible. The Māori word for responsive is ‘urupare’. We hope that you are always experiencing our urupare approach as we support our tenants.
Lancaster Court in Beach Haven is our biggest village on the North Shore, consisting of 51 units. The wonderful thing about a larger village is that they’re always busy and buzzing with activity. With more tenants, you’ll also find someone who shares your interests or a neighbour you just get on well with. At Lancaster, for example, we have a a group of tenants who are Chinese and mostly couples. They all get on famously and can usually be found either gardening, exercising together, fishing or organising celebrations in the community house for important dates like Lunar New Year.
Another group are our Filipino ladies who go to church, do their gardening and love to go clothes shopping together. We also have fitness enthusiasts who you’ll find at the gym, the swimming pool or going on team walks around the local park. Elsewhere at the village, the music group may be practising in the community house for their upcoming performances at churches and other neighbourhood events, while other tenants will be volunteering their time playing piano at rest homes, helping out at the mall, op shop or church. Meanwhile, other villagers will be catching up to discuss gardening ideas or have a coffee, while brother and sister duo Denise and John who live opposite each other might be enjoying afternoon tea together in the sunshine.
Neighbourliness and living together in peace and harmony are such a central aspect of life at Lancaster Court and contribute to the warm and friendly atmosphere that makes this North Shore village so special.
The village’s Filipino ladies – from left, Lillian, Leoncia, Virginia, Maria and Dolly – are all currently learning the ‘chicken dance’ to perform at one of their 80th birthday celebrations!
In January, Paulina Browne of Leabank Court celebrated an amazing 37 years living at the village in Manurewa. Paulina has made a great many friends in the village over the years and is very helpful towards her fellow tenants when they’re unwell or need assistance. Every week, she also looks forward to catching up with the seniors who attend the Selwyn Centre at St Elizabeth’s Church in Clendon and taking part in the wide range of activities that are available for the guests to enjoy. She loves going to church, too, but in recent years has been enjoying the worship services that are on TV on a Sunday morning. We wish you many more happy years at Leabank Court, Paulina!
An opportunity for villagers to enjoy ten-pin bowling and post-match lunch events, originally funded by Auckland Council for a three-month period last year, was so popular that tenants have continued to meet up and enjoy each other’s company while engaging in some friendly competition. Pictured is the new ‘Haumaru Housing Bowling trophy’ that the bowling club commissioned for the tenants when they became part of the league there, which has been won by Sally Hahipene of Te Atatū’s Kaumātua Court. What a great inter-village initiative!
Tenants of Topping Court (Mangere East) and Bridge Court (Mangere Bridge) recently enjoyed informative presentations by guest speakers Emma and Laura from Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ). There were key learnings about fire prevention as well as the importance of being a good neighbour and looking after one another in the event of an emergency. Emma and Laura also spoke about the availability of a special smoke alarm for those who are deaf or hard of hearing and the eligibility criteria for getting one fully-funded.
Lots of information was provided during the presentations. Left: the FENZ session underway at Bridge Court; (right) Topping Court tenants pictured with guest speakers Emma and Laura.
Staying with the theme of fire safety, FENZ also ask us to be aware of the fire safety risk associated with battery-powered devices and electrical appliances. Here are some tips for using such appliances safely in the home:
Batteries, chargers and multi-plugs: Heat-generating devices include anything that produces heat when in use, even small appliances like hairdryers and toasters.
Leads and cords:
To learn more or for non-urgent help, please visit www.fireandemergency.nz or call them on 0800 693 473.
If you’re concerned about an immediate threat to life or property,
call the emergency services on 111.