Gold standard for Julia Wallace
Only four months into her new job, the clinical manager of Julia Wallace Retirement Village managed to help achieve the “gold standard” of audits.
Bernie Lidiard had 17 years in the field before she joined Ryman Healthcare’s Palmerston North village. Since then, she implemented her high standards and hands-on approach to empower all service staff to give their best and more.
As a result, Julia Wallace has been appointed a four-year certification audit — the top tier of Ministry of Health audits for retirement villages.
Bernie described herself as a “nut-cracker” who leads by example, with an “influential” management style that has led her to establish a great rapport with staff, residents and their families.
She said the audit was a lot easier to achieve with support from the village manager and through working alongside amazing nurses, caregivers and residents.
Village manager Christina Brenton said that it was an extraordinary achievement for Bernie to help get the four-year audit in such a short time frame.
“Bernie came in, knew she had a goal to reach and made it happen, now we have the gold standard!”
The idea of moving into a village can be daunting and, for some people, the initial visit can be a challenging experience.
However, Christina says that the village is nothing like what some resthomes once were.
“There has been resistance from so many years ago, because of what they use to be like, but they aren’t like that now,” she said. “Here it’s beautiful, and people are quite surprised to see that residents are having a lovely time, they’re engaged, involved and enjoying their lives.”
Julia Wallace Retirement Village is designed and built with stunning architecture concepts, and nestled amongst beautifully landscaped gardens.
Residents also enjoy fabulous resort style facilities, right on their doorstep — lounges and bar, indoor swimming pool and spa, gym, beauty salon, bowling green, library, a movie theatre, and so much more.
As part of the Ryman Healthcare group, Julia Wallace provides a full range of retirement living and care options. This includes gorgeous independent townhouses, serviced apartments and a care centre providing the very best of resthome, hospital and dementia-level care.
The village is holding a serviced apartment and care centre open day on Sunday 20 May for the public to attend. “We certainly have a high standard and the open day gives people an opportunity to come along and have a look to see what we do and what makes us different,” Christina said.