If you’re like me, this time of year… all I want is the warmth of some sunshine!

As if winter isn’t cold and wet enough…we have been moving through a particularly challenging period over recent months.

As we pass the Winter Solstice and seek to emerge from under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many other significant changes in our operating environment including:

• Unprecedented reform in the Homelessness Sector
• Significant changes to many of our other service contracts
• Necessary efforts to review and better align our internal structures, systems and Award arrangements.

I want to sincerely thank everyone for their patience and perseverance whilst we have been working through these necessary changes.

The implementation of our components of the new ‘Toward Home Alliance’ is progressing very well. It’s great that staff appointments are now almost finalised and that most of our current staff who were seeking a role have found one within Baptist Care SA.

I am very pleased to advise that Amy Kane has now joined us as the Senior Manager for the new ‘Pathways to Home’ Service portfolio which includes all the services that Baptist Care SA will be providing under the new ‘Toward Home Alliance‘. Amy comes to us from Baptcare Vic/Tas where she spent the last three years working in the disability sector leading the rollout of the NDIS in SA.

We have also attracted some other great new staff who will be joining us over the next few weeks and I trust that you will all warmly welcome them as they come on board.

Baptist Care SA is also very pleased to be establishing an innovative new service called ‘Living Connected – Living Well’ across the Adelaide metropolitan area. I extend sincere thanks to Phil Bunyon and his team for the work they are doing to establish this new much needed new support service that addresses the needs of people who are not eligible for NDIS Services, but who require support to live well in the community.

I also want to extend thanks to our:

• Adventure Pathways team who have been moving through a challenging period of consultation about some Award changes
• Finance team who have been working diligently with our Executive and wider management team to prepare the FY2022 Budget for the year ahead
• Information Services team who have been busily deflecting cyber threats whilst maintaining and updating our ICT systems
• Organisational Development team who have been in overdrive in recent months as they have recruited and re-contracted numerous staff associated with all the changes in our service contracts

Thanks for your continuing efforts to make great things happen everyone!

Graham Brown
Chief Executive Officer