ORANA-Annual-Report-2015-16-v7

ORANA ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16
CEO’S
REP RT
NICK MIHALARAS
beyond and are equipped to ensure that people with disability
have choice and the opportunity to control their own life.
This has been a commemorative year for Orana, as
the organisation celebrated its 65th year of providing
services to the South Australian community and
launched our ‘refreshed’ brand on the 10th August 2015.
It all began in 1950 with a group of committed parents
starting a journey which led to the formation of Orana
Incorporated. Everything they did, every dollar raised, was for
their children to have greater opportunities in life. This put
people we support at the heart of what we do.
Over the last six and a half decades Orana has seen
significant changes in the disability sector. These changes
have included the closing down of institutionalised care
facilities, the transition from sheltered workshops to supported
employment, increased community inclusion for people living
with disability and a focus on person centred support. Now,
the disability sector is on the verge of the most significant
change to date, the full implementation of the National
Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
The NDIS will provide individuals living with disability and
their families, the ability to select the disability support
services they wish to engage and how they will allocate their
funding. They will be able to pursue value for the services they
require, have ample support options to choose from including
accommodation and employment opportunities and engage
their preferred service providers. This will increase competition
across disability support agencies and, it is anticipated, see
the introduction of many new organisations offering a wider
range of services to people living with disability.
Orana recognises the challenges which the NDIS presents
and we have positioned ourselves accordingly. We have
strengthened our position in readiness for the NDIS and
Over the 65 years the disability sector has seen radical
changes, in particular transforming service delivery. However
it would appear that our vision of supporting people living
with disability is still remarkably similar to that of our founding
members. Over the next decade the NDIS will enable disability
service providers like Orana to create new opportunities
for people living with disability underscoring the vision of a
person centred service, envisaged by our founding members
for their children, all those years ago.
The organisation
celebrated its 65th
year of providing
services to the South
Australian community
In order to meet the demand for services and to be
competitive in a growing market place, Orana’s Board and
Executive Team recognised the importance of strengthening
Orana’s brand within the South Australian community.
Early this year in response to this, a branding campaign was
initiated to increase community awareness of Orana’s services
for people living with disability. The campaign included the
development of a commercial which was aired on television,
online and cinema, promoting services that typify Orana’s
vision of social inclusion and person centredness.
The first television commercial featured one of Orana’s
employees, Jamie, representing an Orana employee living with
disability, on a typical day. It highlighted Jamie’s independence
through employment in one of Orana’s nine business services
across the state.
The second featured Natalie, demonstrating how well trained
Client Coaches in Orana’s Accommodation Services support
people living with disability to live independently within their
own home, and the wider community.
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