Heritage Lifecare has been managing the facility since August 2022, which it has since purchased.

Heritage Lifecare chief executive Norah Barlow said seeing the home close would have been a shame.

"Losing this home and the vital aged care services it provides would have been a huge loss to the community.

"Now with the purchase, St Joseph's will continue to serve the community. We will be working to ensure the kaupapa of the sisters continue," Barlow says.

Sisters of Compassion Congregational leader, Sister Margaret Anne Mills is sorry about the change of ownership, but says the new owners' attitude heartens her.

The handover was the last step of a journey that hit the headlines last August when St Joseph's Home of Compassion announced its 87-bed rest home in Upper Hutt would close.

Staff levels had been dropping for three years. Two-thirds of the facility's registered nurses had resigned, they explained.

Poor salaries - $20,000 lower than peers working in hospitals - saw many registered nurses seek alternative employment.

Various immigration issues meant overseas-registered nurses weren't taking their places.

At St Joseph's, as elsewhere in New Zealand, the combined issues forced the Sisters' desperate decision to close the facility.

Last year, when word got out about St Joseph's, the Upper Hutt community, in particular, was shocked.

Mayor Wayne Guppy said the closure would be "catastrophic for the community".

Heritage Lifecare's Norah Barlow agreed. Impressed by the community's response, initially she decided to partner with Sisters to find solutions to keep St Joseph's open.

Critically, one solution was readily available. Heritage Lifecare had the resources to deal with the staff shortages.

Soaring Costs

Shortly before Christmas, the Government announced a $200 million-a-year pay-parity funding package to help registered nurses working in the community. These include those in aged-care homes.

The Government is also allowing overseas-trained nurses to join other medical professionals on the "straight to residence" pathway.

It's expected this will make New Zealand more attractive to overseas nurses.

Home of Compassion chief executive Chris Gallavin says the Sisters have 38 members with an average age in the 70s.

Gallavin says the order is no longer recruiting but remains active and plans to significantly upgrade its soup kitchen and to keep honouring the commitment made by Sister Suzanne Aubert to the people of Wellington, he said.

Source

• NZ Herald
• Stuff
• Stuff

Even as a toddler the young Terry Kennedy knew what he wanted and how to get it.

His determination, persistence and stubbornness made Kennedy the man who was always helping others, his daughter Carmel Kennedy says.

His persistence saw a couple visiting Wellington take him home with them from the Home of Compassion orphanage instead of the infant they'd come for.

"My Nana always said that Terry picked them."

Her father's stubbornness and strong moral code for helping people saw him push hard when he saw the need, Kennedy says. He'd go out of his way to help them.

Those same characteristics saw him refuse to have anything to do with others until they toed the line. Like the young man who accidentally hit his sister at a dance. Terry Kennedy - who was a muso at the dance, refused to play until the man apologised.

He apologised eventually - but not for a week or two. During that time there were no dances. For anybody.

"Once he had decided he was right about something, he wouldn't let go, unless he finally agreed, he was wrong," his daughter says.

He was a strong supporter of the Catholic church, and the local Mercy sisters were never far from his thoughts.

He had a lot of ‘'time and respect'' for the Sisters of Mercy, his daughter says.

"Sister Diana advised us that Dad would often arrive with a huge pile of fish and chips and a movie for them to watch.

"And the police would often ring Dad, when someone needed help. Dad would help organise a place to live, a job and just be someone to talk to."

Former Timaru mayor Ray Bennett, who sat by Kennedy in many council meetings, described him as a man who was "almost an icon of South Canterbury in so many ways.

"He was a champion of anyone who was disadvantaged.

"He was a really good campaigner, a hell of a nice guy and one of the characters the council's had in the past."

South Canterbury District Health Board chairman Ron Luxton said Kennedy's contribution to the board had been valued.

"He was always one to promote for the people of South Canterbury and worked diligently.

"We were very sorry to lose him [from the board] and he made his mark on the board, and we were very happy to have had him during that time."

Terry Kennedy's parting gift to the community is money to start raising funds for a ‘Magic Table' - like the one pictured - for the local dementia unit, where he spent his last days.

St Vianney's Timaru Trust chairman Dale Walden says the trust will contribute $5,000 toward the fundraiser. The cost of the table will be around $10,000.

The Magic Table helps with increased physical activity, social interaction and cognitive reasoning.

Source

• Stuff
• Stuff'
• CathNews
• Image: Nursing Times

Speaking to NZME's Sadie Beckman ahead of a meeting in Levin last Friday, Little said he had noticed that the proposed purchaser of the housing was not just a charity, and that there was corporate interest.

Compassion Horowhenua, has a shareholding split equally between the Sisters of Compassion and Willis and Bond Co private investors. The two have a long standing relationship.

According to the agreement between Compassion Horowhenua and the council, the new owners will provide "security of tenure for all tenants for the duration of their need" and an "integrated wrap-around service for the target population". Read more

Suzanne Aubert was the founder of the Sisters of Compassion, New Zealand's only home grown order of Sisters.

In 1997 the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference supported the first part of the formal process, called the "Introduction of the Cause of Suzanne Aubert".

Last year Pope Francis declared Suzanne Aubert ‘venerable' - the second formal stage on the way to being declared a saint.

If Suzanne Aubert's Cause for Sainthood is successful, she will be New Zealand's first saint.

Bishop Charles Drennan, the liaison Bishop for Suzanne Aubert's Cause, commented "kiwi culture readily celebrates its sports heroes and sometimes its arts and music high achievers.

"Suzanne Aubert's gutsy life focused solely and relentlessly on the needs of others helps us also to celebrate a radical life of practical faith."

He went on to say, "Mother Aubert's life shifts holiness onto our streets and fields.

"Hers is a gumboots ‘n sleeves rolled up type of saintliness that resonates both in this country and overseas, with growing interest in her Cause in France and parts of the Pacific."

Sister Margaret Anne, congregational leader for the Sisters of Compassion, said "The 1^st of October gives us the opportunity to rejoice in the faith filled life of Suzanne Aubert but more importantly to dare to follow her example by taking the time to listen to the promptings of the Spirit.

Last year marked the 90th year since Aubert's death in New Zealand after dedicating 66 years of her life to living among, learning from and wal

Read full press release

Source
Supplied Amanda Gregan
Communications Advisor - NZ Catholic Bishops
Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa

In the past 12 months, the Compassion Soup Kitchen served 9,939 breakfasts and 17,493 dinners. Providing two hot meals a day six days a week, two social workers to work one on one with guests, free computer access and opportunities to participate in meaningful activities, the Compassion Soup Kitchen supports people in need to live with dignity in the community.

This year the Compassion Soup Kitchen celebrates 115 years of operation. This service is possible due to the goodwill and generosity of the people of Wellington and beyond. Continue reading

Fanning said a key part of that plan would be to turn the Home of Compassion creche, which was built by Mother Aubert in 1914 for low-income mothers, into a centre dedicated to her.

The process by which Aubert would be made a saint is well advanced.

Should she become New Zealand's first saint, Fanning says said the city needed to be ready for the influx of pilgrim tourists.

"I can see Wellington could attract quite a number of pilgrims who would visit the city she worked in most of her life."

He compared the opportunity for Wellington the that which was created when Australian nun Mary MacKillop was made a saint.

It led to a boom in pilgrim tourism in Melbourne.

But there's a problem - the current plan for the building, which was moved to Memorial Park in 2014, is for it to be made an education centre focused on World War I.

NZ Transport Agency offered the creche to Wellington City Council for $1 last year, but the offer was declined.

"It seems it's a little strange that a woman who was known for her work with Maori and the disadvantaged should have her building used in association with war," said Fanning.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• Image: mch.govt.nz

The three-stage relocation involved moving the 200-tonne building 15 metres to the west and raising it 3m.

Built in 1914, the creche continued the work that Mother Aubert began in 1903.

The building was moved to incorporate it into the Buckle St underpass and memorial park project.

The NZ Transport Agency owns the building, but Wellington City councillor Andy Foster said the agency did not want it long-term and might be looking to sell it.

"We are open for public or private use," Foster said.

"If you want it we can put you on to the right people."

Continue reading

Annette said she made her first trip to Fiji in 1962, teaching at St Agnes Primary School in Nabua until the end of 1976.

This time she says she is there to help supervise the construction of a new wing at the Home of Compassion. She is making sure that it is built according to the specifications.

These specifications Annette says have to do with nursing care for the elderly they provide at the home. The other sisters and their helpers at the home know what they want, the builders have their plans, and Sr Annette, the daughter of a builder, is here to see there is a match between the two sets of people. Or as she puts it, "we need a good functioning building".

Read the interview in the Fiji Times

Image: The Fiji Times

Filmmaker Jess Feast was inspired by those interviews to make a documentary film about Sister Loyola, Gardening With Soul, which receives its world premiere in Wellington on 27 July at the 2013 New Zealand International Film Festival.

Listen to interview with Jess Feast

Watch Trailer for Documentary

The $3.5 million project will increase the bed capacity up to 33, and will make it easier to meet the greater needs of today by the addition of new service rooms.

The new rooms will allow the Home to offer palliative and hospice care to those who leave the hospital with no prospect of a cure and who were facing death.

Sister Emi Frances Oh said "It is just as important to help their families through very painful processes and these facilities, although small, will make it more comfortable for both patient and family members to be with them."

"We are grateful for the grant of $32,000 per year received from government through the Ministry of Health."

The new building will be disabled and elderly friendly with wheelchair ramps also being installed for easy mobility for the residents.

It is being built on a 2,000 square metre piece of land and will be largely funded by the Mother Aubert Home of Compassion Trust Board New Zealand.

The construction is expected to be completed by mid April next year.

The ground-breaking ceremony was perfomed by the First Lady Adi Koila Nailatik

Source

• The Fiji Times
• The Fiji Times
• Fiji Village
• Image: The Fiji Times

While assisting the men spiritually, Sister Litia recognised they had musical talent and thought that talent could be used to address their behaviour.

The nine prisoners, using the name Urban Migration, have recorded Songs Down Pauri Road 2012, a collection of 16 songs they wrote and recorded in the prison. The title of the CD comes from the prison's location on Pauri Rd, Kaitoke.

Their songs are about their families and their dreams for the future.

They play all the instruments on the CD, and one of the prisoners designed the CD artwork.

Whanganui Prison acting manager Jan Smith says, "Music can bring self-reflection, which for some prisoners is the beginning of a process to change their behaviour. The prisoners in the group have used music as a way of expressing themselves, and to share their experiences."

Continue reading

As a temporary measure a sealant has been sprayed on the roof, but in the longer term the roof will need replacing if the Aubert Childcare Centre is to continue operating in the building. Remediation of the grounds, with top soil, bark and sand would also be required and grassed areas would have to be replaced. The estimated cost of replacing the roof is $500,000. But could be more if the removal of the roof revealed additional problems .

After the Directors of Compassion considered the Sisters' mission, the ageing of Sisters, their resources, the costs of repairing the Centre's roof and outdoor play areas, together with increasing costs of maintaining and insuring all buildings currently used for Mission services they concluded that they could no longer keep the Aubert Childcare Centre open.

The head of the Sisters of Compassion, Sister Margaret Anne Mills, said there has been much debate and dilemma regarding what to do with Aubert Childcare. She said its foundations were built on service to the poor and needy; the Centre was founded as a residential home for disadvantaged children.

Sister Margaret Anne quoted an article about the Sisters written in 2007: "Many Sisters shared in the nursery and childcare work over the years and the fact that the Childcare Centre at the Bay continues to provide care for young children and help for parents reflects our belief that our Mother Foundress continues to watch over her children."

She said that she too has a sense that Suzanne Aubert continues to watch over 'her' children, but, "Time has passed and there have been many changes in the Bay. The childcare centre of today generally caters for the local Island Bay community.

The Sisters say they are conscious of their responsibilities to their benefactors, who bequeath funds for the care of those disadvantaged in the community but the childcare facility no longer falls within the Sisters' core purpose and they feel it would not be appropriate to spend such a significant sum repairing the building for a purpose that is no longer in keeping with their mission.

By a strange coincidence, the building which houses the original creche in Buckle St also figured in the news on the same day as the sisters announced the closure of the Island Bay building. The Buckle Street building, which now has Heritage status, stands in the way of the proposed Basin Reserve Flyover. It may not be demolished and will have to be shifted should the building of the fly-over proceed.

Source

• The Sisters of Compassion
• The Spirit of Mother Aubert lives on
• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Screen Shot Google Maps

"How Far is Heaven" which is being shown as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival was shot by by Chris Pryor and Miriam Smith shot over a year while they were living at Jerusalem.

It is first and foremost a rapt pictorial response to its beautiful setting through four seasons. Its recurrent subject is whether three Pakeha nuns, kaitiaki of the church and convent founded in the 1880s by Suzanne Aubert, are serving any useful social purpose there in 2011.

We meet the sisters, 94 year old Anna Maria, splitting the fire wood, Sue making jam and preserves, and Margaret Mary, volunteer-teaching at the local school.

Magaret Mary is diligent, patient and well aware that she mightn't know half of what's going on, she connects most readily with the kids when she teaches music.

But the taniwha under the bridge exercises a stronger hold on young imaginations in Jerusalem than the Christmas Nativity play.

Before the showing on Saturday the film makers spoke about the film and Sister Sue said an opening prayer.

View Trailer

Source:

• New Zealand Film Festival
• Image: New Zealand Film Festival

Guests were last year introduced to the garden by its coordinator, Robert Te Whare, and since that time Robert has driven a vanload of people from the soup kitchen to the garden every Monday. They often return with regular harvests of fresh vegetables for the evening meal.

The article, "Sixty years of service" is about "three kiwis who have also spent six fulfilling decades in their fields".

The article tells how Sister Yvonne, who came from Hokitika, met some Home of Compassion sisters and was so impressed with them that she decided to join up.

She entered the Home of Compassion in 1952 and over sixty years has worked in Fiji, Auckland, Wellington, Carterton and the Hutt Valley. Much of her career was spent nursing, but she also spent time supervising the Home of Compassion kitchen.

Yvonne now lives in retirement at Silverstream but still visits the elderly in the nearby hospital and rest home.

Source

• Australian Women's Weekly New Zealand edition (not available online)
• Image: The Sisters of Compassion

An engineers' report has found that more than 67 per cent of the buildings are below the minimum earthquake standard required by law and could be dangerous in a moderate earthquake.

The residents, their families and staff have been told of the closure, and planning is under way to relocate the residents to other care facilities.

The Home of Compassion has a 54-bed facility with close to 90 per cent occupancy rate, with a staff of about 80.

Source

• The Wanganui Chronicle
• Image: The Sisters of Compassion