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Lifeview is excited to announce its 'Planting with a Purpose' program has won the ‘Enhancing Consumer Experience’ Award in the 2022 InnovAGEING Awards. The ceremony was held online Thursday 24 November, where Lifeview was represented by Executive Manager – Hospitality Stephen Milsted.

InnovAGEING is Australia’s national innovation network for the age services industry. Head of InnovAGEING, Merlin Kong, said the finalists represented another inspiring cohort of innovators in this year’s InnovAGEING National Awards.

Planting with a Purpose is a collaboration between Lifeview’s residents, chefs and gardeners, to cultivate and grow fresh produce for the Lifeview kitchens. Lead by Stephen Milsted, Executive Manager - Hospitality and Head Gardener, Daniel de Sachau, the program is making a difference on so many fronts including resident satisfaction, interaction, and participation. Residents are involved in everything from germinating seedlings, to planting, tending, and harvesting the produce.

‘It is fantastic to win this award and receive the recognition for all the continued hard work. There is a lot of bad press in relation to food in aged care, so it is great to be able to promote positive innovation in this space.’ said Stephen Milsted.

Since beginning the program, we have seen significant improvements to the residents physical, emotional, and psychological wellbeing. There’s a sense of being able to contribute to the community with something tangible as well as the satisfaction and accomplishment the gardens bring, from planting seeds to harvesting and eating home grown produce.

Daniel confirms: ‘I’ve noticed that their mental health does seem a lot better,” de Sachau says. “They come out and will talk to me while I’m outside doing my doing my normal jobs, even if we’re not doing a gardening class, and they’ll talk about how the veggies are going. We’ve also got a few residents that will go out there and water the garden beds and pull the weeds out… so it’s getting people back outside without any problems now.”

It is the second time the ‘Planting with a Purpose’ program has won an award, showing the importance and success of involving residents within aged care homes. The program also won the 2021 HESTA Excellence Award.