Partnership & Enablement Newsletter - Te Arotahi
WELCOME
Kate with partners Holly, Hannah and Jess.
Tēnā te mihi maioha e te hikuroa o Te whānau Tahi o ConneXu, ānei te arotahi mō tātou haerenga hei tēnei tau...
Greetings to our ConneXu family, friends and associates. We are delighted to share with you our focus moving forward with your loved ones.
Welcome to the inaugural Partnership and Enablement Newsletter. As we work to grow our partnership with you all, we have committed to sending out a team newsletter quarterly, with the intent to increase our communications with family/whanau around matters that may directly impact your loved one.
For those of you whom I have not had the opportunity to meet, I am Kate and it is an absolute privilege to hold the role of General Manager Partnership and Enablement at ConneXu. I have worked for ConneXu for 11 years, watching the organisation grow from partnering with 23 persons to over 200, responding to people from the Coromandel across to Raglan and from Hamilton, down to Taupo and across to the Bay of Plenty.
I am married to my husband Wayne, and we have three children - Liam 13, Olivia 12 and Emily 12. Yes, twin girls! In my spare time, I enjoy helping out on our dairy farm, spending time with family and socialising with friends.
Partnerships and Enablement
The Partnership and Enablement team is the team that works alongside your family/whanau member daily, our team currently consists of 225 employees. As a member of the Executive Team, my focus is on strategic planning, funding contracts and negotiations, stakeholder engagement, best practices, and innovation to respond to the ongoing changes in the sector.
We have four senior leaders who report to me. Katherine Price - Senior Leader Bay of Plenty/Lakes, Ashlee Rayner (covers all regions and is responsible for all contracts which fall outside of Residential), Gavin Hurnard (Clinical Advisor/Registered Nurse), Guy Ockenden (Continuous Improvement Manager).
We are in the process of advertising for the Senior Leader, Waikato King Country region, a role that is currently vacant.
Our Newest Team Members
Amanda Johnson
Hi, I am Amanda and I live in Taupo with my Husband and two fluffy crazy dogs. I grew up here, and after living in other places returned to Taupo about 10 years ago, and I love it! It is close to the places I love and is such a beautiful spot.
My background is in Retirement Villages and hospitality, but this is by far, my favourite sector so far.
I love being a part of our partners working towards living their best lives and am excited about my future at ConneXu and the great things I can assist our partners to achieve.
Rashaad Buksh
Hi, I’m Rashaad, alongside being a Leader of Partnership and Enablement, I am also the CPI Instructor. I was born in Auckland - my father is Fiji-Indian, and my mother is NZ European. After schooling in the Waikato, I studied journalism and wrote for publications in the Bay of Plenty. I then decided to become involved in ambulance services both as an ambulance officer and 111 communications. Then I found ConneXu, a place I enjoy working at every day because of the many exciting opportunities available to all.
Robert Kinyua
Hujambo, I’m Robert. I was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya. I have one brother and three sisters.
I have lived in Dallas, Texas; Adelaide, South Australia; Launceston, Tasmania; New Plymouth, Taranaki before moving to Hamilton. I speak four languages. One is a mix of English and Swahili called Sheng.
Married to Joyce for 28 years – I have a 27-year-old son, and 24-year-old daughter.
Working for a company with a vision and mission within a diverse group of people and cultures is what excites me most about being at ConneXu.
Te Arotahi - Our Focus
Our focus over the coming 6 months is working together to improve communication. We believe that the results for disabled partners, their families and wider whanau are directly correlated with the happiness and satisfaction of ConneXu team members and the way we tackle the opportunities we face together.
Therefore our focus is:
Our ConneXu Team Members: We are committed to making ConneXu a great place to work. We know we need to change; we must learn from our successes and failures and integrate these into our decisions moving forward.
Disabled Partners and family/whanau, we are committed to hearing the voices of disabled partners and family/whanau and co-designing the future together.
The way we work, we are committed to finding improvements to the way we work together. Understanding behaviours that get things done, ensuring we are constructive and focused, holding each other to account. Moving from an “I” to a “WE” approach.
Work begun with the Whole ConneXu team on these areas with hui (workshops) being held in June-July and Oct-Nov this year. At future Family/Whanau evenings, we will update you on how we are tracking on this piece of work.
Family Focus Group
Earlier this month, a group of family whanau members came together to create the Family Focus Group, established to represent the interests and perspectives of family members, enabling the ConneXu team to learn and improve. They will focus on the following areas
Communication
Feedback and recommendations
Annual calendar of family/whanau meetings
The Family Focus Group and ConneXu are committed to enhancing our partnership with you all, so as always, we welcome to hear from you about any innovative ideas, feedback, concerns or suggestions! Feedback is a gift and will assist us as we aspire to be the best we can be. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions you can use the button below to let us know.
Christmas at ConneXu
The festive season is quickly approaching! Christmas parties are in the planning, Christmas floats are being designed and the people we partner with are busy decorating their homes for the annual Christmas decoration competition. This year we are asking family/whanau/friends to pre-order tickets to the Christmas events by clicking on the buttons below, which will take you to the Eventbrite website. Tickets are $10 per person and contribute towards the cost of catering.
Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season.
Meri kirihimete