“We are community, we are family,” resident Jackie McAuliffe told Kaitiaki from a picket line of about 150 people in the Wellington suburb of Berhampore on Thursday. “We care for our staff.”
‘If they must make cuts, start at the top level salaries . . . not the frontline’.
Berhampore’s Village at the Park, one of 35 retirement villages owned by the for-profit Arvida Group around New Zealand, is proposing to cut 358 enrolled nurse (EN) and caregiver hours per week with loss of jobs, disestablish the activity coordinator role and cut back 54 registered nurse (RN) hours per week (without loss of nurses).
The village offers apartments as well as rest home, hospital-level and dementia care.
Resident Bob Aldred — whose wife is in the Village’s dementia unit — said staff cared for he and his wife “beautifully” but he was worried about the impact losing more than 400 hours of care a week would have.
‘You tell me how you can cut 450 care hours and not make a difference to the residents — it’s not possible.’
Another resident, Jill Tetley, said Arvida should trim management, not frontline staff.
“If they must make cuts, start at the top-level salaries,” Tetley said. “Not the frontlines, as that will affect residents’ lifestyles.”
Wellington comedian and celebrant Pinky Agnew, who has friends living in the village, said she was particularly concerned about the loss of activity coordinators — a role she believed was crucial to residents’ physical, social and mental wellbeing.
“For people like our friend, it’s crucial in terms of our quality of life.”
Resident Lew Skinner said residents were unhappy as they did not feel Arvida had been up front. “We are really upset, partly because they’re our community and we were also upset by the secrecy of it. They are picking on our most vulnerable staff.”
Long-time residents Jim and Frankie Szymkowiak were annoyed by Arvida’s claims the proposed cuts would not affect them.
“You tell me how you can cut 450 care hours and not make a difference to the residents — it’s not possible,” Jim Szymcowiak said.
Resident Elizabeth Julian, a Sister of Mercy, said the village was a real community and they were picketing in support of staff.
Sri-Lankan-trained nurse Charith Weerasuriya Arachchige is working as a caregiver in the village’s dementia unit, while going through New Zealand nurse registration. He said it was “hugely frustrating” for both the residents and staff, who are facing an uncertain future.
‘It guts me they are going to have hours cut, everything cut, for profit.’
“How am I going to give my maximum? It’s not just a job — we are not working with machines, they are human.”
He and other internationally-qualified nurses working as carers in the dementia unit, like Vimu Waduge and Nama Wijesinghe, also risked losing their work visas if their roles were disestablished. “We do not feel safe.”
Hospital resident Zeta Jacobsen, her daughters Tracey and Anne Jacobsen and grandson Harley Christian, said they were “gutted” by the proposal.
“The residents are our most vulnerable and the staff are amazing,” Anne Jacobsen said. “It guts me they are going to have hours cut, everything cut, for profit.”
Village caregiver Silia Lavea said staff needed more time to spend with residents, not less. “We love our residents!”
Diana Sue, whose mother is in the dementia unit, said there had been an erosion of trust between Arvida and residents’ families because of a lack of transparency around the proposals.
In a response to the proposed cuts, unions NZNO-Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa and E tū say no reasons have been given for the cuts, which would be “very stressful” for staff who were already very busy.
“The reduction of staff care hours can only place greater pressure on each impacted staff member, risking their health and wellbeing, and create greater risk of poorer life quality and health outcomes for residents.”
Nor had Arvida explained how they calculated that they were overstaffed, the unions said.
Arvida told Kaitiaki it would respond on Monday.
