Colin Squire - Above and Beyond for Iona Aged Care Home
June 2025
Colin Squire is one of Iona’s volunteers, who was asked to join as a ‘buddy’ for a younger resident living in the rest home unit. Colin comes in early every morning and goes to the resident’s room to pick him up, then takes him to the dining room where he oversees the resident setting the tables.
This resident is in his early 60s and lives with an intellectual disability and significant health issues. He is younger than most in the home, and doing small jobs like this is very rewarding and empowering for him — helping him feel he is contributing to the Iona community, which he is able to do thanks to the support of Colin. Once the tables are done, they collect any mail for the cottage residents and go for a walk to deliver these.
The resident has been experiencing many seizures due to his health, and sometimes these occur while Colin is with him. Colin will sit with him, sometimes for several hours, until he knows the resident is better. He will then often call back out later in the day to check on him again. The two have made a wonderful connection, and the resident — who receives no visitors due to his family living out of town — looks forward to Colin’s arrival. They seem to have become really good mates. As the activities assistant at Iona shared, “Colin is absolutely amazing with him and they have really struck up a great friendship together.”
Colin lives at the very other end of Oamaru, so it is quite a distance for him to come. Colin will also often help the maintenance man with many jobs that are challenging for one person — such as unloading pallets of deliveries, shifting furniture, or doing jobs that are too high for the maintenance man. The other day, he stayed all day to help put together a flat pack unit for a resident’s room.
Colin goes above and beyond for Iona and does so with such love, care and empathy. He is a huge asset to Iona, and the team feel incredibly lucky to have him choose to spend his time with their residents.