News News 2010-07-13 09:Jul:th 2010-07-13 09:Jul:th http://www.tipping.org.au info@tipping.org.au Copyright 2010 E.W. Tipping Foundation Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:01:20 +1000 Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:01:20 +1000 http://www.tipping.org.au/news/id/107 Disability Groups unite for a National Disability Insurance Scheme

The campaign is being co-ordinated by a national coalition comprising organisations directly representing individuals with a disability, community organisations providing disability services, and carer organisations.


EWTF CEO Richard Dent is taking a lead role in co-ordinating the support of community organistions in Victoria.


The coalition made a national announcment on 8 July:


Disability Groups unite for a National Disability Insurance Scheme


A coalition of groups representing people with disabilities, families and service providers have come together to push for the introduction of a National Disability Insurance Scheme.


Frustrated by years of neglect and underfunding by successive governments, the coalition has decided a strong collective voice is required to ensure the needs of Australians with a disability and their families are finally placed on the political and public agenda.


The coalition has established a campaign fund to ensure the public understands the need for a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The goal of the campaign is to promote awareness of the NDIS and a greater understanding of the opportunities it will provide for people with disability and their families.


“The National Disability Insurance Scheme represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to change the lives of people with a disability and their families in this country,” said Lesley Hall, spokesperson for the National Disability and Carer Alliance.


“For too long Australians with a disability have been reliant on limited government support or charitable handouts. They have not received the support they require to be full, active contributing members of the community,” she said.


“The National Disability Insurance Scheme represents the opportunity to finally ensure people with a disability have the same opportunities to contribute and participate as the rest of the community.


“Unless they have personal experience, very few people understand the crisis facing so many people with a disability and their families in this country,” she said.


“Through no fault of their own many people with a disability and their families find themselves in absolute dire circumstances. We need to make people aware of this national disgrace and how the National Disability Insurance Scheme will make a difference.”


A number of organisations providing services to people with a disability and their families have already contributed to the fund. The coalition is asking all groups who work with people with disabilities and their families to make a contribution to ensure the awareness campaign continues.


The peak organisation representing disability service providers, National Disability Services, has joined the coalition. Chief Executive Dr Ken Baker said today NDS recognised that the National Disability Insurance Scheme represents “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for transformational change.”


“I am therefore delighted that so many of our members have responded so quickly and so generously by contributing funds from their scarce reserves to this campaign. A number have commented to me that they can think of no more important issue to which they can contribute their resources and they look forward to working alongside people with a disability, their families and carers.”


All of the members of the coalition are committed to working together cooperatively to present a strong united voice to achieve this transformational reform. All look forward to more organisations adding their voices to the campaign.


The coalition has established an initial national steering committee comprising:


Lesley Hall, CEO, Australian Federation of Disability Organisations


Kevin Cocks, Director, Queensland Advocacy Inc


Ken Baker, CEO, National Disability Services


Tim Walton, President, National Disability Services


Rob White, CEO, Spastic Centre of NSW


David Barbagallo, CEO, Endeavour


Joan Hughes, CEO, Carers Australia


Pam Webster, National Disability and Carer Alliance


The coalition will soon appoint a National Campaign Director to oversee the awareness campaign.


The National Disability and Carer Alliance is a proud member of the coalition. For further information about the coalition or the campaign for a National Disability Insurance Scheme, please call Kirsten Deane, Executive Director, National Disability and Carer Alliance on 0409 565 925.


 

 Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:01:11 +1000 Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:01:11 +1000 http://www.tipping.org.au/news/id/106 UNAA World Environment Day Awards

The EW Tipping Foundation SustainAbility Stars program was recently nominated as a finalist in the United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day Awards. We were finalists in the Education/School Award category.


A representative group from the Foundation attended the Awards Presentation Dinner at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne on the eve of World Environment Day, Friday 4 June. This included a support worker as well as a resident of our HomeChoices shared supported accommodation, who are both championing the program.


This nomination as a finalist was an outstanding achievement due to the high standard of entries from around Australia and a record number of entries in many award categories.


So congratulations to everyone involved in this program. We look forward to its continued success and to making a positive difference to the environment.


For more information on the event and the finalists, visit:


http://www.unaavictoria.org.au/pages/awards-program/world-environment-day-awards.php


For more information about our SustainAbility Stars program, click here.

 

 Mon, 03 May 2010 09:18:29 +1000 Mon, 03 May 2010 09:18:29 +1000 http://www.tipping.org.au/news/id/105 EW Tipping Foundation celebrates 40 years

On Tuesday the 20th April 2010, the EW Tipping Foundation celebrated 40 years of service to the community at Government House. More than 150 people gathered in perfect sunny conditions at a Garden Party, including people we support, families, staff, supporters, government representatives and other guests.


Our Patron-in-Chief, Prof David de Kretser AC, accompanied by Mrs de Kretser, officiated at the proceedings.


The EW Tipping Foundation was established in 1970 as a legacy to Bill Tipping, a strong advocate for the rights of people with disability. Our commitment to providing independence, choice and community for all still continues today as we provide support to people with disabilities, children, families and older people across Victoria.


To view more photos and watch the commemorative video aired at the event, click here


 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:29:16 +1000 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:29:16 +1000 http://www.tipping.org.au/news/id/104 EW Tipping Foundation announces Environmental Sustainability Policy Through our SustainAbility Project, we have been working for the past 12 months to introduce household sustainability practices into our HomeChoices residential and respite services.

Our new environmental sustainability policy means that we will also work to reduce the environmental impact across our other operations and services. You can view the new policy below.

For more information about our SustainAbility Project, the SustainAbility Stars program or our SustainAbility Star-ter Kit, go to www.tipping.org.au or email sustainability@tipping.org.au


EW Tipping Foundation Environmental Sustainability Policy

E W Tipping Foundation recognises that each person’s current and future health and wellbeing is closely linked to the condition of our environment.

We are committed to reducing the environmental impact caused by our services and operations and to the following principles and practices.

We will:

Promote the principles and raise awareness of environmental sustainability through education, communication and support of our sustainability programs and initiatives within our organisation including the people we support

Monitor our environmental performance and impact in the areas of water, waste and energy, including transport

Manage our environmental performance by setting, achieving and regularly reviewing objectives and targets

Develop a coordinated long-term approach to infrastructure
provision and procurement policies with a triple-bottom line (social, environmental and financial) focuss

Comply with relevant legislation and regulations

Our aim is to continually improve our environmental performance, and become a role model for positive environmental change in our community.
 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:19:57 +1000 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:19:57 +1000 http://www.tipping.org.au/news/id/102 Official Opening of E W Tipping Foundation Mr Shorten was joined by Cr Steven Tang, Mayor of City of Glen Eira, representatives from government and the community services sector and people supported by the Foundation.

EW Tipping Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Richard Dent, said, “The Statewide Coordination Centre reflects new directions for EW Tipping Foundation which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2010.”

“By bringing our Melbourne staff together we will combine resources and create efficiencies to help the Foundation provide a broader range of customised and flexible support services to young people, people with a disability, families, children and older people across Victoria,” he said.

E W Tipping Foundation, a non-profit organisation, was established in 1970 as a legacy to Herald journalist EW (Bill) Tipping, a strong advocate for the rights of people with disability. Originally established to provide disability support services, the foundation now provides a range of community services across the state.
 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:01:59 +1000 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:01:59 +1000 http://www.tipping.org.au/news/id/100 Client Satisfaction Survey Report 2008/2009 In May, we asked people we support and families in HomeChoices, i-GAIN and Vista to complete a survey about the service they receive from us.

This feedback is important to us because it helps us to make sure we provide the best possible services. Thank you to the people who answered the questions and gave us their feedback.

We have collated the information we gathered from the surveys.

Some of the findings are:

  • People we support feel they are given the opportunity to make their own choices and decisions, however they would like to make more decisions in certain areas of their life

  • A high proportion of respondents agreed that they received the support required to keep relationships with family and friends

  • Access to the community was high and most respondents indicated many community venues they visited and had support to visit. Over 80% of respondents felt they had a good understanding of what was available in the community and felt their staff were supportive of their hobbies and interests

  • There was some indication from the answers provided that people we support and their families thought our Complaints and Feedback process could be improved

  • A number of the surveys also indicated that they thought rostering of staff and filling vacancies when support staff are unable to work could be better handled and needed improvement.


We have already made some changes based on this feedback.

We have recently streamlined our complaint and feedback process to make it easier for staff and service users. We have built in an acknowledgement process and have started analyzing our complaints to highlight areas of improvements so we can continually improve service delivery.

We have been working on a number of strategies over the past 6 months to improve our rostering systems including reorganising workloads, implementing customer service processes to service delivery and streamlining processes to clarify job roles. Improvements in this area will continue to be the focus in the coming year.

We will continue to work to improve these areas, and we thank everyone for their feedback.

We have started our survey process for 2010. Due to the growth in the number and diversity of the services we deliver, we will be trialing a staged approach to obtaining feedback in 2010.

We will target groups of people who receive similar services rather than everyone at once.

We also aim to hold discussions with a number of small focus groups as part of the survey process to gather more feedback to assist us with our continuous improvement program.

We hope that this new process will provide us with even more feedback. Feedback can be provided anonymously. We hope that everyone will take the time to give us their feedback about how they feel about their services. This is very important to us.

If you have any questions, please contact us at info@tipping.org.au or 03 9564 1000.
 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:50:25 +1000 Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:50:25 +1000 http://www.tipping.org.au/news/id/98 2009 Video Check out our video on the year that was 2009.

 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:24:52 +1000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:24:52 +1000 http://www.tipping.org.au/news/id/96 Christmas Appeal It’s hard to believe that a young person in their 20’s, with their life
ahead of them, or a man in his 40’s with a wife and kids, could end up in a nursing home.

But that’s what happens to approximately 70 people under the age of 50 each year in Victoria.

Many have suffered a serious brain injury from an accident or stroke and require months of rehabilitation simply to eat, move and talk again; others have a degenerative illness like multiple sclerosis and can no longer be cared for at home.

In many cases, they will never go home again.

Just think about what it would be like- the long painful months of hospital and rehabilitation, the strain on family, relationships and finances, and the prospect they may never recover. Because of the high level of care they need 24 hours a day, many people can’t ever go home. And because there is nowhere else to go, many of these young people end up in nursing homes for the aged.

Nursing homes are designed to care for the needs and routines of people in their 70’s, 80’s or 90’s. For a young person used to socialising with family and friends, and used to the freedom of being active, fit and energetic, this aggravates an already devastating situation. Nursing homes just aren’t designed to cope with young people who need rehabilitation and support, but there is simply no where else for them to go. Your donation can help to change this.

The statistics are frightening. Did you know that:

82% of young people in nursing homes hardly ever see their friends.

47% never go shopping, or participate in leisure activities.

13% never even go outside.

Scary, isn’t it?

Living in a nursing home can mean losing contact with friends and family who can’t travel long distances to visit, or can’t fit in with rigid visiting hours. It means losing the ability to choose how you spend your day – your meals, bedtime, visiting hours and even your TV programs are dictated by someone else. Imagine life for a young person without this basic choice and independence – something the rest of us take for granted.

No wonder these young people feel abandoned and forgotten by the community.
When Mark was in his early 20’s, he prided himself on being independent – living and working and planning for the future. Then, one day, his life changed forever following a car accident. In the accident, Mark suffered a serious brain injury.

Suddenly, Mark was fully dependent on those around him. He is unable to speak or smile, and struggles with his motor skills – his body is slow to react. He walks slowly and finds it hard to use his hands to grip things. But things are much better than they used to be.

In the years following his accident, Mark lived in an institution.

Though caring for his physical needs, the facility couldn’t provide Mark with individual care and attention. He was unable to pursue interests, go out in the community, and had limited interaction with family and friends. There was little improvement in Mark’s condition.

Through perseverance from his family, luck and with the support of the EW Tipping Foundation, Mark found a permanent place to live in a home specially designed for young people with an acquired brain injury. Able to get the care and support he needed, he now enjoys basketball and soccer in the backyard, plays pinball in his own unit and goes to concerts with his support worker. Mark knows he is lucky to live in a place he can really call home.

If you send a donation today, we can get young people out of nursing homes
and into real homes.

In 2010, we are constructing specially designed homes in Victoria for young people affected by brain injury or illnesses who are living in, or at risk of living in, nursing homes. By joining me and giving today, you can help to build these homes. Your donation will help to build a future for young people with an acquired brain injury or progressive illness.

Your gift, sent today, will give real hope. Please, don’t let our young people be forgotten.


 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:59:53 +1000 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:59:53 +1000 http://www.tipping.org.au/news/id/94 2009 Annual Report Click here to download your copy of the 2009 Network Annual Report and 2010 Calendar. Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:51:32 +1000 Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:51:32 +1000 http://www.tipping.org.au/news/id/92 Community sector falling behind in environmental performance: survey Not‐for‐profit groups have scored poorly on integrating sustainability into their organisations and offering green skills or sustainability training to staff in comparison with government and private sectors, according to a recent Green Steps Australian Workplaces Survey.

Not‐for‐profits identified less investment in environmental initiatives (32% less than government and 10% less than private organisations surveyed), lagged significantly in offering green skills training to staff or including it in induction of new staff, and none included green skills in their performance management and evaluation process.

“Resourcing in the community sector, which constantly struggles for enough funds to deliver its services, is clearly a factor in our survey findings of lower environmental performance, yet I would also say there is a lack of understanding of how sustainability fits into the core business of different community service organisations,” says Green Steps’ Manager Mark Boulet.

Green Steps is a not‐for‐profit sustainability training and consultancy provider which recently won the 2009 Banksia Environmental Awards’ education prize. It is part of the Monash Sustainability Institute and wants to see everyday workers in a variety of jobs develop the green skills to improve environmental sustainability in workplaces across Australia.

An example of how funding for sustainability projects in the community sector can be found is E.W. Tipping Foundation’s success in winning a grant from the Victorian Government’s Sustainability Fund to initiate a sustainability project for its group homes.

The project aimed to engage both staff and its residents living with disability in environmentally‐aware behaviour such as reducing energy and water use.

The 12‐month project focused on three pilot houses, but its influence resulted in lower consumption of some utilities in 11 of the organisation’s 28 group homes through exposure to the project.

It also encouraged residents to share their knowledge about environmental sustainability and how they could make a difference, and gained internal organisational support to extend the project and commit to broader organisational change.

“There are strong links between environmental sustainability and the core work of the community sector, not least the savings that are possible through more efficient resource use and a reduction in wasteful practices, but also social outcomes as E.W. Tipping Foundation found,” says Boulet.

Two E.W. Tipping Foundation managers have since completed Green Steps @ Work intensive training, which teaches non‐specialists practical skills in energy, waste and water auditing, implementing carbon reduction or waste minimisation action plans and initiating staff behaviour change programs.

“What we do at home accounts for only 20‐30% of Australia’s energy and water consumption and waste production, which means we can do far more to combat our environmental challenges by addressing sustainability within the workplace, and this requires greater knowledge and skills from employees everywhere,” says Boulet.