SJOG Liffey Region Newsletter April 2016

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What’s inside?

Learning about the Easter Rising in 1916. Our pupils built a model of the GPO on O’Connell Street in Dublin.

Ciara visiting an exhibition about the 1916

uprising in Tallaght library.

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sjogliffeyregion.ieApril 2016 Issue 02

My dear fellow Hospitaller, March 2016

Each year on March 8th the Feast of Saint John of God, we pause in our busy schedules to recall the man who is responsible for bringing us to the place where we work; the people we work with and in particular the men and women we accompany and serve in a particular way because of a need in their lives at this time. I believe that none of us Hospitallers, be we lay-hospitallers or religious brothers, are here by accident. In some mysterious way each one of us has been called by God to form a community of love, a family, and we have been given a very specific mission. The mission that has been entrusted to us has been lived and exemplified by John of God. John not only practised Hospitality, he became Hospitality for the poor, the sick and the needy brothers and sisters that he served and sacrificed himself for. In terms of how we should live Hospitality - John of God is our ‘Polar Star’. Today then, let us renew our commitment to Hospitality in the manner of Saint John of God; be grateful for what we have received and endeavour to be a modern-day John of God or rather BRIDGET OF GOD or CHARLES OF GOD for the people we are privi-leged to serve and for ours fellow Hospitallers. Happy feast day and thank you for what you do and in particular for the manner in which you do it for the people you journey with and accompany each day.

Very sincerely yours in HospitalityBrother Donatus Forkan OH

Provincial*extract from original letter.

SPEAK UP COUNCIL

The Drop In Club, Walkinstown have asked the students in DIT Kevin Street if they can make an easy to use Microwave. Taking on the challenge is student Modestas Jakuska. The team from the Drop In Club includes Barry Cryan (pictured below). The team leader is Alan Byrne.

Menni Voices have been very busy this year organising Infoshare and meeting with local politicians before the election. They were grateful to Dr. Sean Shanahan who came over in March to talk about the ‘Memory Clinic’.

The Speak Up Council have been meeting with local politicans and getting ready for new advoacy training which will take place in the coming weeks.

DIT EASY LOGIN PROJECT

Kenneth Quigley from Las Granadas at his work experi-ence in RECREATE, Ballymount.

Laura, Alex, Ciara and Jamie are also helping a group of 3rd year computer science students to build an accessible Person centered planning web app. They are supported by Aaron Proudfoot and Fiona Early.

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A big thank you to the Garda Band who came out to perform for us. It was a super day. We hope to see them again in the summer.

GARDA BAND IN CELBRIDGE GREAT OUTDOORS

Art Competition took place in the Deansgrange Library and it was a great success.

JOBS CLUB

BIG DAY OUTShane, Robert and Sarah from Las Granadas would like to travel abroad. As part of exploring this goal they visited Dublin Airport. They really enjoyed the experience. “Next step is to save some money and get our passports”.

Job Shadow successFollowing job shadow 2015, two participants from the 20 people who took part; Maria Slattery (right)and Papticho Ntim (below ) secured jobs in Musgraves, Kilcock.

DIT MICROWAVE PROJECT

FIONA EARLEYWe would like to welcome Fiona as the Person Directed Planning Co-ordinator for the Liffey Region. Her role is to deliver training in person directed planning and support staff to work in a person centred way. If you need to get in contact with Fiona her email is: [email protected]

Ever forget your password or login details? A team of students from DIT have taken up the challenge to look at how to make login easier for everyone. Graeme Meehan, Mark Mahony and Anthony Munnelly (not pictured) are helping the students with the project. They are supported by Kenneth Boylan.

MENNI VOICES

WORK EXPERIENCEDIT PCP PROJECT

Job Shadow Day 2016 Contact your Job Coach to get involved

8 week Job Club takes place every Wednesday in Bluebell Community Centre from 2.15pm - 3.15pm. For more information contact: Sarah Byrne [email protected] or phone 087-7475371.

Some of the men settling into their new home in one of our recently registered houses in Beatty Park. Furnishings were supported with funding from ‘Parents & Friends Association.”

In January seven residents moved from Glen Poer to a new home in Riverside, Tear-mann Mhuire. Keyworkers, families and staff all played a massive part in ensuring the residents’ transition plans were completed successful-ly. This move was an exciting time for the residents as they helped develop their new home.

On Tuesday 15th March all schools raised the National flag and read out the Proclomation. Eoin had the honour of raising the flag in our school with help from Val. It was a proud day for us all.

ISLANDBRIDGE SCHOOL READING OF THE PROCLAMATION

TRANSFORMING LIVES


UPDATE FROM REGIONAL DIRECTOR - PHIL GRAY

I am pleased to advise that St. Raphael’s has been identified by the HSE for funding of €1.3m to support the decongregation of people from the campus. This funding is to support 8 people to move to 2 houses during 2016. In order to receive the funding, a comprehensive Action Plan had to be completed and returned to the HSE by 31st March last. The next step is for the HSE to approve this plan. We will then be advising relevant families and working closely with them and the HSE in reconfiguring the support for these 8 people and in developing tran-sition plans for them. We will also be looking to identify suitable properties which will then need to be purchased.

HIQA Update

• HIQA Certificates of Registration have been received for 5 Designated Centres in Kildare.

• HIQA continue to undertake Registration and Monitoring Inspections throughout the country and in Liffey Region Services. I would like to acknowledge the com-mitment by staff to improving the services, which is being reflected in the overall feedback from the Inspections.

TEARMANN MHUIRE SETTLING IN

HIQA APPROVED REGISTERED CENTRESCongratulations

to everyone involved in

securing the HIQA

registration to date.

ALEXANDRA MANOR

ST RAPHAEL’S SCHOOL NEWS

Saint Raphael’s Green Flag School Litter Patrol working hard on the Green Schools project. We have been recommended for a Green Flag.

Saint Raphaels Rising Stars Our pupils produced a 27-track Music CD to help raise funds for the school.

This is a respite house for children and adults on alternate weeks.The aim is to provide time for your family member in a comfortable, home-like environment and also support your family to have a break.

CD is available from the

school reception

DRAMA - DUBLIN Ploughing for StarsChoices Day programme were

delighted to receive a grant

award from the Kildare Arts

and Library service to be a part

of Kildare’s Easter Rising Com-

memorations 1916, 2016. They

are preparing an adaptation

of The Plough and the Stars by

Sean O’ Casey. It will be di-

rected by Aisling Byrne and will

be performed later in the year.

Choices are hosting an acces-

sible public lecture about the

play to be given by Dr. Chris-

topher Collins of Trinity College

Dublin. This lecture is due to

take place on April 27th, venue

to be confirmed.

Our Association was founded in 1962 and is a registered charity. We support service us-ers, who are supported by St. John of God Kildare Services. We are a totally voluntary association and all funds raised are used to improve and enhance residential and day services and to support the social and rec-reational activities of service users.

Our main fundraising activities are Collection Days, Garden Fete (held on 1st Sunday in July annually), weekly Bingo and our Char-ity Shop. We are constantly looking for more volunteers, particularly with Collection Days and the Garden Fete. If you would like more information about how to help us please contact: Garden Fete – Sinead Cronnolly ph: 0877869421 or email: [email protected], Collection Days – David Trost ph: 016288341 or email [email protected]

Run of the Mill theatre is an inclusive theatre company based in The Mill Commu-nity Centre in Celbridge. It was founded by theatre artist Aisling Byrne. A number of service users from St. John of God Liffey Region continue to meet there on Monday nights. A youth theatre has been founded since January creating a space of creative identity in the community for teenagers and young adults with special needs. For more information see www.facebook.com/runofthe-milltheatre or contact Aisling on 0851146881. Members & support always welcome.

Run of the Mill recently sent a group to the Arts and Dis-ability Ireland Creative Connections conference in Galway on 27th and 28th of January. Teresa Flood of Pathways and John Monaghan of Seasons Day Services attended with their drama teacher. It was a very interesting event with great panels and performances.

In Saint John of God Menni Services, the men and women are getting ready to stage there 3rd Strictly Come Dancing event in May . They will be performong a Tango, Salsa and some 80s classics. for more information contact Fidelma [email protected]]

The men and women in Avila, Tallaght with the support of their keyworkers held some great election preparation workshops to un-derstand the election process.


DRAMA - KILDAREPARENTS & FRIENDS ASSOCIATION

END OF LIFEIn Liffey Region we have been supporting the men and women attending our services in the area of End of life care. Some of the men and women have asked to have their wishes about End of Life care placed on their fi le. “How we deal with death and dying has been de-scribed as a measure of our humanity.” This quote comes from the Irish Hospice Foundation who have been doing a lot of work in promot-ing End of Life Care. As part of End of Life Care the Department of Health has just published a draft general scheme for Advance Healthcare Directives, which will be included in the Assisted Decision-Making Bill 2013. In line with these developments the Chaplain and the Speech and Language Therapy department have developed an End of Life form. The men and women attending our service can use the form to record their wishes for End of Life care. Please contact Margaret Mulcaire, Healthcare Chap-lain, Saint John of God, Community Services, Liffey Region, 0879980274/ [email protected]@sjog.ie

ELECTION PREPARATION

Congratulations to every-one who took part in this year’s Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. The overall theme was “Imagine If”. Our group performed as part of the City Fusion pageant whose theme was “Games On” - imagining sports in the future. Instructor Ciaran McDermott says: “What made this day so reward-ing was seeing the people I support independently perform with the natural supports of the parade marshals and crew.”

MUSIC MATTERS INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY CHOIRS

We are expanding in Kildare this year! Rehearsals: From April 2016: Every Tuesday 1.30-2.30; St. Raphael’s Celbridge

New singers & carers always welcome, just come along! Non-verbal choir members welcome!

Music Matters: we want to teach the world to sing! One Choir, One Community, All Abilities, No Divides

For more information & to register, see musicmatters.ie

Contact Shauna Sweeney (chaplain) ext 282

[email protected]


SAINT PATRICK’S DAYCOMMUNITY LIFEDIT students have joined up with some of the men and women from Avila centre in Tallaght to build a communitylife.ie website. The website will help to share information about accessible and suitable places and events

Beatty Park

TRIP TO GALWAY

The men and women from Bluebell had a great tr ip to Galway earlier this year. They are looking forward to their tr ip to Granada in Spain later this month.

The Acre Project holds non- commercial community based projects. Their vision is to provide an environ-ment that seeks to nurture and encourage connectiv-ity in our community. They run Music Therapy for one hour every Wednesday.

SPORTS

Farewell to a Volunteer

EQUESTRIAN AREA GAMESAn equestrian event took place on 29th February and 1st March. SJOG Kildare had six athletes taking part; Aine Woods, David Brophy, Kieran O’Reilly, John Camp-bell, Pappy Herterich and Suki Bassi. All of our athletes came home with medals; 7 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze. Congratulations to all. We would also like to thank our volun-teers in Callaghstown who help our athletes every week, it is very much appreciated.

AQUATICS AREA GAMES The aquatics competition was held in the National Aquatic Centre in Blanchardstown on the 8th March and Kildare had 13 swimmers taking part. They did extremely well winning 6 gold medals.

Kildare Blue Bulls continued their winning streak with two wins against Killester (home and away). The team topped the league along with Black-rock Flyers. Kildare Blue Bulls are in a play off on the 23rd of April against Blackrock Flyers. We wish the team all the best.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS BOCCE 7S LEAGUEKildare Hotshots played against Bray Lak-ers on 11th Feb in Celbridge. Unfortunately the team lost 2 – 1 but each team mem-ber played their best and gave it their all. Carmona were our next opponents on 17th Feb, which was won by Kildare! The game was played in Celbridge as Car-mona avail of our court every Wednes-day for practice. The league continues until the beginning of June

GRAEME MEETING THE IRISH TEAM

SPECIAL OLYMPICS BASKETBALL DIV 3 LEAGUE

Individuals from ICE took part in this year’s Operation Transformation. ‘We felt very happy during and after exercise and felt better after cutting out a lot of bad things from our diet.’ During the 10 weeks we made videos and took pictures which we sent into the show. We even featured in one of the episodes which made us feel like celebrities! We plan to continue the changes we have made. We will try to keep up with our exercises and we hope to arrange a 5k walk very soon.

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OT @ ICE

SLIMMING WORLD - GREATEST LOSER

The men and women in Las Granada made some lovely fruit smoothies with the help of one of the social care students. This is part of their FETAC Healthy eating module. They bought the fruit they wanted and here you can see John King blending the fruit to get the desired consistency. Everyone who wanted to could try some. It was an excellent experience for the whole room.

FETAC HEALTHY EATING

Gemma O’Flaherty has been taking part in Slimming World for over a year now.

She, along with her sister, have a great time doing it and she is bril-liant at remem-bering what she can and can’t eat. In the last year she has lost an incredible 5 stone in weight. She hasn’t stopped either and hopes to lose even more.

ISLANDBRIDGE OPERATION TRANFORMATION

Staff and service users within Islandbridge are currently eating healthily and working out as they undertake the get fit craze “Operation Transforma-tion”. The gang, who have called themselves “Boss Man Fitness”, undertake weekly weigh-ins, hop-ing to be crowned Islandbridge “Slimmer of the week”. Pictured are two of the winners, Aileen Higgins and Noel Sage.

SJOG Liffey Region Newsletter April 2016

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