Retirement Villages Association joins SAGE partnership
SAGE, an industry-first alliance between Aged Care Association Australia (ACAA), Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) and ThomsonAdsett, has been conducting successful study tours across four continents since 2006. All members of the initiative are pleased to announce that the Retirement Villages Association (RVA) have officially joined the SAGE initiative to provide a more integrated study tour offering to all peak industry organisation members.
With the RVA now on board, SAGE’s status as the Australian authority in international tours focused on studying and advancing eldercare is affirmed.
Following the conclusion of the RVA’s ‘Global Retirement Communities’ inaugural study tour earlier this year, which was also prepared and coordinated by ThomsonAdsett’s Judy Martin, who is the SAGE coordinator and tour leader, representatives from RVA discussed the prospect of joining the SAGE initiative with key stakeholders from ACAA, ACSA and ThomsonAdsett; to broaden their base of attendees and benefit from the international recognition and reputation of the SAGE brand.
Andrew Giles, CEO of RVA, believes the move will allow the organisation to add further value to their current offerings, “After the highly successful GRC tour in 2010, the RVA is extremely excited about joining forces with SAGE. This means more comprehensive learning opportunities for our members as well as greater access to best practice retirement and aged care facilities on a global scale” said Giles.
Chris Straw, Chairman of ThomsonAdsett, shares Giles’ optimism about the move.
“We are all extremely delighted to have RVA on board with the SAGE initiative. The coming together of these organisations under the SAGE umbrella will have long-term benefits for all parties involved, especially for the peak industry bodies valued members,” said Straw.
Rod Young, CEO of ACAA, believes the similarities between branches of eldercare and seniors living internationally made the merger a logical move.
“I think it’s fantastic that we now have all of the major peak industry bodies supporting SAGE tours as our experience to date shows that there are many linkages when we look at overseas systems in regards to community care, retirement living and residential care” said Young.
Greg Mundy, CEO of ACSA, also shares his support for the venture.
“We support the broad participation of all people involved in Aged Care in Australia; the more people we have to draw on, the more likely SAGE tours will be successful in providing a wider range of delegates the opportunity to broaden their knowledge on international eldercare systems” said Mundy.
SAGE is currently accepting registrations for the CHA San Francisco Tour (25 Oct – 5 Nov 2010) and accepting expressions of interest for SAGE Belgium, Germany and NCF UK (May 2011), SAGE USA (including IAHSA – Oct 2011), SAGE South Africa (March 2012) and SAGE Miami (October 2012).
