Just because I don’t have boys, doesn’t mean I can’t have a professional surfer in the family!
A couple of weeks back we took the family back to Noosa (my favorite place in Australia). Most days included a “Heywood Bootcamp” surfing session. Even Nikki, my wife, is now up and standing.
Here are some of the results: (NOTE: Sage at only 14 month carrying it up on 1 rail!)
Many moons ago, my sister & I used to have quite memorable parties at our parents’ place while they were away and our late labrador “Tyson” endured them all. Last week I sent out the below invite to my 35th Birthday house party. Below this are some of the responses… So many stories unfortunately cannot be shared online!
“Hazy,
I should have recovered from your last ‘Heywood Party’ by the 10th. Count me in son! I am not too sure who has the big Kahuna however i am sure we can fit in a ’25′ cheeseburger run at some stage in the evening”“Mate…… wouldn’t miss it for the world, Count me in.”
“Are you serious ??
A HEYWOOD PARTY ??!!
This reeks of a mid-life-crisis – but also sounds ridiculously fun !!”“Brilliant, just brilliant. Super invite mate.Let’s get it on. (Marvin Gaye)”
“Sounds fun! Wish we could come, as James would especially love the shenanigans of a Heywood house party. Hopefully there are no spray painted sheep involved at this one!”
“I’m in…….Thanks for the invite mate, wouldn’t miss it! just a little scared about what might happen…….”
“Woooohooooo! I’m there!
Pity Tyson isn’t still around to eat a whole chocolate ‘cake’ and then shit/vomit throughout the whole house. Those were the good ‘ol days!
I could go to the Havelock first and announce it on the bar if you like?Bring it on.”“Like it Hazy – we’re on!!!”
“mmmmmm……..
Long live the Heywood party!
Been a while since the last Heywood party!”“Hi Nick – hilarious invite. Made me laugh.
Sadly don’t think Thommo and I will be in Adelaide then.As you know, coming back for Chippy’s – can’t wait.”
“Speak for yourself babe. Im going.. Never missed a Heywood party ever.”“Great invite you clever little sausage! So gutted – we would LOVE to be there but both got events on so can’t. I don’t need to say ‘have a good one’ as you’re well versed on that.”
“Actually, it’s one of the best and funniest invites I’ve seen.
Awesome! We’ll be there with bells on! x”“That just made my day seeing that as the subject! LOVE a Heywood Party!”
“Great invite, wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Haha… love it! I’ll be there Hazy… wouldn’t miss an old School Heywood Party!!!”
That is a quote from our office manager in the Philippines’ office, Grace Subida. This Christmas, W&L were able to assist the poor in Barangay Calawisan, Lapu-Lapu City in the Philippines by providing gift packs of food and supplies to 110 families.
On top of a substantial donation by W&L, all of the staff in the Australian head office donated to achieve our goal of feeding 110 families at Christmas. It was a real blessing to donate and know that 100% of their donation was going to the beneficiaries.
W&L office staff in the Philippines gave up their time to distribute the packs just before Christmas. Even the local and national newspapers wropte about our generosity (please click through to the links below to read the full story). Our graphic design “dude” has also prepared a short video of our Christmas party in the Philippines and the giving out of our Christmas hampers.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/117109/villagers-get-gift-packs-from-australian-firm
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/116515/aussie-firm-gives-noche-buena-packs-to-110-lapu-families
Obviously the way it works in New Zealand is, the more you spend on your fly fishing adventure, the more luck you are going to have with the fish gods. Well this was almost the case for me on our most recent trip to New Zealand. The whole family were heading there for my mother’s 60th which was to be held in her home town of Plimmerton. The venue was her old sailing club right on the water and it was a great success. Many of her friends travelled from Adelaide to be part of it as well as all the New Zealand contingent of the family.
Following this we ventured up to Taupo to catch up with my old mate Steve and hopefully catch an elusive rainbow trout high in the back country in the streams to the east of Taupo towards Hawkes Bay. Unlike the last trip with the boys in February (see previous post), this time we were armed with our own helicopter (nice) that I had organised compliments of W&L. Much to my father’s disgust (fear of heights) and my brother-in-laws delight, we took off for the 25 minute ride to our hunting ground.
Now , I am not the most eloquent fly caster, but I can launch the fly above the water a fair distance and get a good drift. My sporty brother-in-law picked it up in a flash so we were casting on to any moving brown shadows that we could see in the crystal clear water of the NZ back country. So how the heck can my old man with no coordination and casting ability, hook onto a 6 pound monster of a rainbow. It is Bullshit!
Today I met with a federal representative from the Department of Immigration to discuss W&L’s plans for overseas recruitment of nurses and allied health professionals to meet the ever growing demand of the aged care industry in Australia. It was extremely informative and led me to believe that W&L are on the right track. I took along a consultant, Mrs Daljit Rao who is now working for W&L to assist us in our quest to not only build W&L brand recognition overseas but also assist us in finding quality therapists and nurses to bring to Australia. Daljit is extremely experienced in the education field and has successfully implemented Australian education programs throughout South-East Asia. We are extremely lucky to have her onboard. My research so far is as follows:
- The most likely visa that will be accepted for overseas trained professionals is the 457 Visa. This is also known as the skilled migration visa. It takes approximately 5-8 months but unfortunately registered nurses who have been trained in the Philippines do not meet the skills assessment required for this visa. They are considered level 4. On the other hand, allied health professionals such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dieticians and podiatrists are considered level 2 and do meet the skills requirements.
- Nurses are not able to enter into Australia as carers because carers are considered below the skill level. There is however and exception here and this could be our window of opportunity. There is a Labour Agreement Visa (457) which has been developed for occupations in Australia in great demand. This visa may be accepted even if the applicant does not meet the skill requirements. It has a ceiling of 3 years for working in Australia and W&L may be able to place these people to work in the aged care industry in (especially regional areas where there is a great demand). I believe that the demand for nurses in aged care in Australia is such that the Government will have no other option than to look overseas to meet this need. “The commission also called on the government to ease restrictions on the recruitment of foreign workers, but also noted the need to make English language skills training a key component of local training.” DPS Guide To Aged Care, 24 Aug 2011
- There is another option that also might be available. For the first time, I heard about another Visa that could work for Philippine Nurses. It is called an Occupational Trainee Visa (442) and is available to overseas applicants for up to 2 years. For this visa, there is no skills assessment and the applicant must be coming over to Australia for training. 30% of this training must be classroom style and 70% practical training, W&L could definitely provide the practical training at their extensive list of aged care facilities that they work with. The applicant could get paid for the work they do while training and W&L would have to put together an individually designed training plan for each person. This may or may not involve W&L becoming a registered training organisation.
There is one thing that I know for sure and that is that W&L are actively pursuing a solution to what we know is going to be a serious problem in our aged care industry in the next 5-10 years. W&L are at the forefront of this crisis and will continue to seek out ways that we can help the elderly people of Australia to get the best possible care and ways we can help the Philippine Nurses who most desperately want to work in their chosen field, come to Australia.
“The aged care sector needs an injection of almost $500 million to close the wages gap and attract an extra 20,000 nursing staff, according to the Australian Nursing Federation.” Nursing Careers Allied Health, 05 Aug 2011.
I am excited by these findings and know that together we can make a real difference and truly change people’s lives by improving the quality of life of our elderly clients in Australia and by providing a pathway for quality overseas healthcare professionals to enter Australia (the luckiest country in the world). Stay tuned for more information as I find it or speak to our Philippine office in Cebu if you require further information.
Kind regards,
Nick Heywood-Smith
W&L, One of Australia’s Largest Allied Health Care Providers, Reveals Online Solution To Baby Boomer Health and Aged Care
Medical breakthroughs and better health care in the western world is resulting in each generation living longer than the one before. As a result, baby boomers, are seeing aged care in two ways: their own needs, and those of their surviving elderly parents. W&L, one of Australia’s largest allied health care providers, has now revealed an online solution to both.
Tags: aged care, baby boomers, health care, W&L, Wellness & Lifestyles
The biggest problem in healthcare today is that people are getting older and living longer. Governments around the world are not ready for this aging population. In Australia there are not enough aged care beds or care packages to support these people. So who is going to look after our aging loved ones? Well, like many other countries, the responsibility will often fall back on the family. The problem is that the family members are not trained nurses or carers and often do not know the first thing about looking after the elderly and the issues associated with aging. So how are they going to find this information? Well like most searches these days, it starts with the internet. The next generation of carers are the internet savvy Gen Xer’s and Gen Yer’s who are used to getting information that they need and want NOW! It will not be uncommon, in the future for searches to be made like “feeding people with dementia” or “how a stroke affects the feet”. Wellness & Lifestyles Education has embraced this concept and has developed an online library of educational material to cater for this market. Information that has previously been educated to the nurses, carers and therapists working in aged care facilities, is now available to the general public to help improve the care of the elderly around the world. (www.wleducation.com.au)