A donation of almost $20,000 from Glencore and its Mangoola open cut operations has seen two of three Vendlet patient turning systems installed at Denman Aged Care to help carers better manage bed-ridden residents or those with restricted movement.

A third bed will be installed shortly with further funding from Rotary.

The fully-motorised beds, a Danish design, enable carers to reposition residents with the push of a button.

The beds have not only significantly reduced manual handling for staff, but have also made many tasks possible for one carer, instead of two. 

“For example, our carers are now better able to re-position a person during the night to make them more comfortable,” Hostel manager Shani Mitchell said.

“The system also reduces the amount of time taken to get a resident in and out of bed.”

Ms Mitchell said the addition of specialised equipment was proving beneficial to the wider community as well as the facility’s residents and carers.

“We can offer more services and care for people with less mobility who might otherwise have had to move away from the area,” she said.

“In fact, we’re now able to bring some of the older community members back to Denman, which is a win-win all-round.”

Mangoola operations manager Tony Israel said Glencore was delighted to be able to do the financial heavy-lifting needed to get the new systems in place. 

“One of the features of Denman is its strong sense of community; we actually heard about the needs of the aged care facility from a conversation with one of the local retailers,” Mr Israel said. 

“It led to discussions with Shani and her team and we were delighted to be able to become a partner in care through the purchase of the equipment.”