Dementia and Dignity: When Love and Connection Become Organisational Strategy with CEO Jenni Hutchins

Most aged care organisations simply talk about dementia. Warrigal decided to formalise it, take it to the board, and make it measurable. Today Dane and Rose sit down with Jenni Hutchings, CEO of Warrigal, to talk about why Warrigal chose to formalise its approach to dementia through a 2030 Dementia Action Plan. The conversation looks at what shifts when dementia is treated as an organisational responsibility, and what it actually means to place love, connection, and dignity at the centre of decision making. Not just in language, but when it’s embedded in an organisation's systems, training, and staff accountability. Read Warrigal’s Dementia Action Plan here. Key moments: 0:00 - Why Warrigal decided to put dementia on the board agenda, and what changes once it’s treated as a leadership issue 6:15 - What it takes to turn dignity and dementia into something measurable, rather than values on a page 9:15 - What organisations learn once their commitments are made public and measurable 10:01 - Why Warrigal chose to formally teach touch and connection in dementia care 16:30 - Leadership advice from a CEO to 2,500 staff and 600 volunteers 22:00 - How intergenerational care programs are changing more than just workforce supply 27:20 - The reaction from younger staff that challenges commonly believed assumptions about aged care 30:12 - Where the current funding models stop lining up with how residents actually experience care 34:36 - The kinds of innovation that policy settings are ruling out today 52:00 - Supporting people at home: an outcome the system simply isn’t equipped for 53:51 - If loneliness sits underneath so many outcomes, why it still isn’t treated as a core policy issue?