A born and bred Southlander, Gail has spent all of her working life in health and disability and was very pleased to head back to her South Island roots to take the role of Care Home Manager here in 2017.

“This is a great place to be and not just because we’re in such a great spot. We work hard to create a warm and friendly environment and people just relax when they get here.”

When you speak to Gail, you can tell she’s proud of the service they deliver. “The staff will always go that extra mile and we balance the clinical and professional side with the normalcy of day-to-day life. That injection of fun is really important.”

There’s definitely fun to be had at George Manning. “There are some real characters here but we’ve also got the quiet residents. We take the time to get to know everyone. When people arrive, the activities girls will chat to them about what they want to do then complete a social plan around their wants and needs. Our diversional therapists do an incredible job.”

To Gail, it’s very important the residents feel like they’re being heard. “We have a residents meeting every three weeks and we can sort out any niggles there. At the last catch-up Roy brought up desserts and we sorted it out then and there, we’ve had nothing but good comments ever since.”