Services Update
- Library update
- Positive feedback from ACC
- BAP training for rest home staff
- Children's services underway
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Library update
The quality of our new digital audio books is being tested by a small group of users. They are able to choose from 90 titles recorded in our studios and then listen to the books on their PCs using software provided by the Library. The Telephone Information Service (TIS) will be upgraded throughout the country shortly. Some newspapers available on the Internet will be narrated over TIS using synthetic speech. Next year we will trial secret voting possibly for elections of board of directors or consumer organisations.
Positive feedback from ACC
The Foundation was audited by ACC back in July. Feedback shows that we are 80 percent compliant with their contract requirements. ACC believes that the Foundation is a caring, well-organised group of staff who are creative and innovative in moving forward with improvements to the services provided to Foundation members. The audit report does outline some areas where we can improve and we will be addressing these over the coming months. These are issues relating to the cultural aspect of service and quality.
BAP training for rest home staff
Blindness Awareness and Prevention and Deafblind Services will be offering blindness and deafblindness awareness training for staff at rest homes. Many older New Zealanders who live in residential care have some kind of sensory impairment. Ensuring rest home staff are aware of the issues facing blind and deafblind people is an important part of providing appropriate services and care in residential environments. The programme will be launched in Auckland early next year, and implemented throughout the rest of the country at a later date.
Children's services underway
Providing adaptive daily living (ADL) services for children has started. This new service is to enable blind and vision-impaired children to develop similarly to their sighted peers. Leading the project is Gendy Ritzema whose main role initially is to develop a training package to ensure an appropriate service delivery model. Workshops with parents will be held across NZ over the next six months to introduce ADL activities. Gendy will be working with four ADL/O&M instructors to provide this much welcomed service.