Carrington Recognised with LASA's Prestigious Organisation Award

Carrington is a not-for-profit aged care organisation located in the Macarthur region in South West Sydney. Carrington provides residential aged care, community care in the home and independent retirement living on our 450 acre site. We are committed to providing all of our consumers with a holistic person-centred model of care which has been built on our values and a long-standing tradition of service for over 125 years.

Carrington was recently honored with the LASA “Organisation Award” for our holistic person-centred model of care and pastoral care program at the LASA Excellence in Age Services Awards presented at the state conference in Sydney on the 7th of May. The organisation award recognises an age services provider who has made an outstanding contribution to care, service development and provision of high level support to the aged by demonstrating leadership, innovation and initiative. Our Wellness Club Program was also recognised as a finalist in the “Team Award”.

Carrington CEO, Raad Richard said, "We won this award because of our care philosophy.” “It's what sets us apart. We are all about individualised care tailored to the needs of each resident”.

“Teamwork, respect, engagement with residents, families and the wider community are very important here," Mr Richards said.

"This award is recognition for staff who are committed and dedicated to provision of high level quality care."

"We intend to remain at the forefront of the industry and set the bar for quality care,'' he said.

Vicki Martins, Raad Richards and Julie Philpott proudly accept the LASA Organisational Award at the LASA Excellence in Age Services award ceremony in Sydney.

Carrington Philosophy of Care

We offer our consumers an organisational culture that is built on strong foundations created by treating every consumer with dignity, respect and kindness. We value each staff member and consumer as an individual and we provide care and services that demonstrate our compassion, integrity and sensitivity.

Carrington’s integrated services work together with the consumer to understand their needs, identity, culture and diverse backgrounds. It is important for us to know as much as possible about the consumer so that we can bring happiness and joy throughout their stay with us.

The Carrington team consists of 520 staff members who appreciate the importance of building trusting and genuine relationships with our consumers and their family members. All of our care staff are qualified and demonstrate in their behaviours and actions the qualities, skills and knowledge required to provide care that meets the needs and preferences of our consumers.

We support every consumer to feel like they belong and are accepted and valued whatever their needs, ability, gender, age, religion, spirituality, mental health status, ethnicity, background or sexual orientation.

Our Pastoral Care Program

Bringing Meaning to Consumers Life;

Despite being a non-faith-based organisation, Carrington has taken seriously its responsibility to care for the emotional and spiritual needs of our consumers, alongside their physical and medical needs. Accordingly, it was 2005 that the Board and the Chief Executive of Carrington decided to investigate ways of doing better in this area. Carrington commenced a Pastoral Care program in 2006, where a Coordinator is employed part time to work with a trained team of volunteers. The volunteers are matched with Carrington consumers, meeting with them regularly and giving each consumer opportunity to engage in the things that matter most to them.

Some consumers identify that they want to talk with someone from the same faith background, others are clear that they are not interested in any particular faith. We have, therefore, found it important to have volunteers who are from a range of backgrounds themselves, and who are willing to meet the consumer in whatever they have identified their needs to be.

Julie Philpott, Carrington’s Pastoral Care Coordinator says, the pastoral care visits focus on the things that bring meaning to the consumer’s life, hope for the future, purpose in daily activities and connection with themselves and others. The Pastoral Care program is supplemented by the faith-specific services that are also provided by local churches in each of our care facilities.

Carrington CEO Raad Richards (right) with Paula Welfare (left) Care Service Manager, Paling Court and residents Ruth Cornhill & Wilma Coghlan.

Treating Consumers with Respect and Integrity;

The concepts of respect and integrity are fundamental to Carrington’s Pastoral Care program. While referrals to the program can come from any source, it is always an opt-in service. This means the consumer has the right to determine for themselves if they wish to engage with the program, and their right to choose not to participate is always respected. Once a consumer indicates that they would be interested in regular pastoral care visits, the team then seeks to get to know them and what is important to them by way of a spiritual care assessment. This assessment seeks to get to the heart of what is most important to who each consumer is. The information from this assessment is then used to match the consumer with a suitable volunteer.

Each match is established on the understanding that either party has the freedom to withdraw at any point. Often consumers feel more comfortable with the idea of a clear opt-out point after an initial trial. In these situations, the Pastoral Care Coordinator will make contact with both the consumer and the volunteer after a mutually agreed period of time, to discuss how the visits are progressing.

Additionally, each consumer is informed that they have the right to choose not to participate in any given visit from a volunteer. A consumer may, for example, choose not to accept a visit because of illness, a desire to participate in other activities, or simply because they are not interested in talking at that time.

Meeting Consumers Spiritual Needs;

In a society where many are afraid to address topics such as faith or spirituality, Carrington’s Pastoral Care program seeks to acknowledge that these things are actually fundamental to who we are as human beings. It also seeks to acknowledge that consumers are often facing deeply personal questions as they approach the end of their lives - questions such as ‘Has my life been worthwhile?’, ‘Will anybody remember me after I die?’, ‘What do I believe happens after death?’

In a world that can be overly-concerned with being politically correct, many are concerned that they might be overstepping boundaries by even raising the topic of spirituality. In contrast, Carrington acknowledges that spirituality is part of being human. As a non-faith-based organisation, Carrington does not associate spirituality with any particular religion. Instead, we consider what speaks to an individual person’s spirit. What are the things that help them find meaning, purpose, hope, connection? We recognise that an individual’s spiritual needs might be met through a variety of sources - nature, the arts, relationship, or religion - and we seek to offer a wide range of opportunities for consumers to meet their deepest, most closely held needs.