How we have all made a difference in a tough year

It’s almost the end of the year, a time when we naturally reflect on the last 12 months. We can all agree that this year has been unlike any other. It’s been incredibly challenging for us all. However, we’ve emerged a stronger community as a result, and instead of dwelling on the challenges, we’re celebrating the positives and what we have to look forward to in 2021.

At Afea, our goal is to make a difference. We’re thrilled that despite the circumstances, we’ve been able to increase our impact and are making a difference to even more people. Here are our highlights for 2020.

We launched Inebura

In early 2020, we split Afea into two independent divisions. We now have a second division called ‘Inebura’ which has a different service offering and is more tailored around plan management and support coordination.

Inebura has also launched a custom-built portal which automates NDIS plan management and allows for real-time budgeting so providers payments are made faster and participants can continue receiving services seamlessly.

We made our biggest impact this year

Can you believe that in 2020, we had the strongest growth and made the biggest impact yet since our inception 13 years ago. We have been expanding our teams all year and we now have over 60 head office staff and 700 carers. We are supporting more families in a wider area, and started operations in Melbourne too. We received a Net Promoter Score (service rating) of above 9 out of 10 from both our Carers and Clients, which really highlights for us the difference we’re making in the community.

We opened the doors to our Supported Independent Living homes  

We converted three townhouses into Supported Independent Living homes. The property provides a safe home to our residents to live independently while still being supported by carers and a house manager. Throughout 2020, we have welcomed several new residents to these homes where they are enjoying their new  home and independent way of life..

We partnered with Enliven Housing

We recently partnered with Enliven Housing on their project The Auburn. They have developed specialist disability accommodation apartments and we will provide onsite support from our carers to a group of participants.

This is a very exciting project as they carefully designed the apartments with the latest assistive technologies to achieve Platinum level certification under a number of  a number of NDIS SDA support categories.

We expanded to Melbourne

Earlier in the year, we set up a local Melbourne division of Afea. We noticed that many vulnerable people during lockdown were facing isolation and other challenges, and wanted to provide safe, ongoing support through this time. Since the expansion, we have increased our impact and have hired our 60th local carer. We are looking forward to welcoming more people into our Melbourne family in 2021.

We increased staff and carer training

Our mission is to empower people, and one way to do this is by providing continued education to our people. We used online platforms like Zoom and in combination with socially distant in-person sessions to provide training such as COVID Awareness, Infection Control, Mental Health First Aid, Bowel Care, Catheter Care and more.

We continued to support our clients

As disability and aged care support is an essential service, we continued to support our clients in a COVID-safe manner. We did this by adopting an early Pandemic Plan to ensure the safety of our staff and clients.  

This included:

• Increased and extra PPE
• More processes and training for staff
• Hiring internal registered nurses who could provide extra training for clients, particularly for those with complex needs

We increased meet and greets

At Afea, we’re always learning fresh ways to ensure we’re providing the best care. In 2020, we ramped up the meet and greets between clients and carers before services start. They give everyone an opportunity to have a chat and work out how they’re going to best work together.

We secured a second office in the heart of Parramatta

We have recently signed a lease for a new Parramatta office, which is currently in the initial stages of being refurbished and fitted for our needs. Being in a central location like Parramatta will mean that our support team will be closer to our wonderful carers and clients. We look forward to moving into our new second office in March 2021. We will continue operating from our head office in Chatswood for our North Shore and Eastern Suburbs community.

We’d like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to our staff, carers, and clients. We have made it through this challenging year together and we are looking forward to supporting our community in more ways in 2021.