For the residents at NewDirection Care, as well as for Natasha Chadwick and her staff, 2020 proved to be one the most challenging years they have ever experienced. The COVID-19 pandemic, which so devastated aged care communities in other states, also brought restrictions and difficulties to their aged care facility based in Bellmere, Queensland.

But, as Natasha explains, it was her strong values approach to aged care and the quality of life that helped them through.

“From the end of January last year, we realised what was coming,” Natasha, the NewDirection Care CEO and founder, says. “We probably didn’t realise exactly what was coming but we knew that we needed to be prepared as an organisation. We brought in additional resources. We developed a strong emergency plan. We drilled and tested that plan with our residents and their families as well as our team.”

At the same time, Natasha and her staff tried to ensure life continued as normally as possible for the residents at Bellmere because, Natasha says, “at the end of the day, here at

NewDirection Care the whole point is for us in continuing and enjoying life.”
Natasha was named the 2019 Telstra Business Woman of the Year Award for her pioneering work in the Australian Aged Care sector with the foundation of NewDirection Care, an innovative and original approach to providing more fulfilling lifestyles for the aged and those with dementia.

NewDirection Care provides care and services in what Natasha calls a “microtown” environment designed to provide a high-quality lifestyle for both the elderly and those with dementia, including younger people.

“Our residents, even though COVID has been going on around them, haven’t been severely affected,” Natasha says. “One, because we are in Queensland there hasn’t been a lot of community transmission, and two, we’ve put a lot of things in place so they could continue to maintain those relationships with their families, with their friends, with each other through virtual chats and lots of different activities.”

As one of the recognised innovators and leaders in Australia’s aged care industry, Natasha provided her views about the sector and future potential reforms to the Aged Care Royal Commission last year. If Australia hopes to change the outcomes in the broader aged care sector, Natasha says, the industry needs appropriate funding as current funding settings are inadequate.

“Out of the many recommendations made to the Royal Commission the really strong ones are making sure that as an industry we’re funded appropriately, so then staff can be paid appropriately,” says Natasha, who also believes staff training levels require urgent expansion and development.

Training, she says, is one of the industry’s weakest points. “When people [staff] come into aged care they might have a Certificate Three in Aged Care from TAFE and suddenly, they’re providing medication and they’re trying to understand whether someone is deteriorating, and their health actually requires some greater care.

“They don’t necessarily have the skills to do that so it’s really important that we develop strong training to supplement their skill sets. It is important that as an industry there is an understanding that if we operate from a place of value and value ourselves as a business and then we make sure we take those values in everything we do whether it is in our relationships with our residents or the relationship in the work that we do with staff.

“If we do that, then the profit driven model will change to be around that [values] and we will receive or achieve the outcomes that we really need to be doing as an industry,” Natasha asserts.