Aged Care Employee Day 2023
4th August 2023
For this year’s Aged Care Employee Day, we’re shining a light on the breadth of roles that make up our aged care and home care teams and the importance of every staff member in the delivery of safe, high-quality, compassionate care.
Working alongside our passionate nurses and carers are an extended team of vital individuals whose daily roles support the high-quality clinical care we provide at Calvary.
From those who keep our aged care residents connected and smiling through engaging lifestyle programs, to those who ensure our residents are fed and nourished with nutritious meals, and those who ensure they have safe and clean living environments to call home; thank you all for your continued service – you all make a difference.
Meet those making a difference at Calvary:
Brian Slatter - Maintenance Officer, Calvary St Jude’s Residential Aged Care
Q. How long have you been at Calvary/ in your role?
A. I have been at Calvary St. Judes for 12 months.
Q. What is the core focus of your role?
A. To maintain the building so that our residents can feel safe in their home environment.
Q. What do you love about your role at Calvary?
A. The people I work with and the residents we care for.
Q. What inspired you to pursue a career in aged care, or was your role at Calvary a happy accident?
A. My wife is a Nurse of 15 years and she inspired me to take up a career in aged care.
Q. Does the Aged Care Employee Day theme “You all make a difference” resonate with you? If so, how?
A. It’s an important day where we can stand back and take a look at what we do and what we achieve for those in our care.
Q. How do you maintain a sense of fulfilment and purpose in your role? What gets you up in the morning?
A. Every day is different and the team I work with motivates me.
Katie McDougall - Lifestyle Coordinator Calvary Robina Rise Residential Aged Care
Q. How long have you been at Calvary/ in your role?
A. I have been with Calvary Robina Rise for just over 4 years. I was part of the foundation team that helped to set up Robina Rise back in July 2019. I was a Leisure & Lifestyle Officer and just over a year ago progressed to Lifestyle Coordinator.
Q. What is the core focus of your role?
A. My core focus is to make Residents feel welcome, comfortable and actually enjoy where they are living as aged care has such a stigma. My main role is to plan, implement and evaluate a Lifestyle Program that provides a range of individual, group and community activities according to resident’s individual assessed mental, physical, social, emotional, cultural and spiritual needs and preferences.
Q. What do you love about your role at Calvary?
A. I absolutely love what I do, I don’t know what other job you can do where you can dance at concerts, dress up in the most outrageous costumes, throw spectacular special events, become a celebrity impersonator, spend time talking with residents who have a wealth of knowledge and have lived through so much. Lastly, I love just being there for them in their most vulnerable moments. It’s an absolute honour to be such a big part of their final years.
Q. What inspired you to pursue a career in aged care?
A. When I was in Year 11 at School, my mother actually enrolled me in the cert 3 Health services assistant as she wanted me to go down the path of Nursing.
I attended the course and did my placement in a Aged Care home across the road from my school. I was only 16 and it was definitely an eye opener, I continued as a nursing assistant for around 8 years filling in for the Lifestyle team here and there and found my passion very early on in my life.
Later on after my trip to Africa I knew I needed a change and I drove past Robina Rise which was being built at the time, applied for the job and I haven’t looked back since.
Q. Does the Aged Care Employee Day theme “You all make a difference” resonate with you? If so, how?
A. My job including everyone in aged care makes a difference in our resident’s lives. Our personalities are all different, we all bring so much to the table.
I enjoy working with my colleagues and learning so much from them, all the nurses, care staff, catering, cleaners, laundry staff, maintenance and administration teams, everyone plays such an important part of our residents lives.
It just takes a moment for one person to enrich the resident’s life.
Q. How do you maintain a sense of fulfilment and purpose in your role? What gets you up in the morning?
A. I aim to make each day different. I have built so many great relationships here at Robina Rise not only with Residents but with Families and colleagues.
I enjoy coming to work everyday and bringing a fun, positive vibe to the home and seeing residents enjoy and appreciate what we do for them. I am very proud to come to work everyday and consider Robina Rise my second family.
Michelle McMenamin – Assistant in Nursing at Calvary Haydon Residential Aged Care
Q. How long have you been at Calvary/ in your role?
A. I have been working at Haydon now for 7 years. I started as a casual employee then was given the chance of full time work.
Q. What is the core focus of your role?
A. The core focus of my role is to help all residents achieve their goals and to assist in enhancing their quality of life.
Q. What do you love about your role at Calvary?
A. I love working with different people from all cultures and backgrounds.
Q. What inspired you to pursue a career in aged care?
A. I was inspired to work in aged care as seeing my grandmother in a nursing home. Some of the residents there had incredible stories that were fascinating to hear. It’s also such a rewarding job. Seeing residents face full of happiness after spending time with them.
Q. How do you maintain a sense of fulfilment and purpose in your role? What gets you up in the morning?
A. I maintain a sense of fulfilment by promoting self esteem and empowering my residents by supporting socialising and helping residents stay active mentally and physically.
Seeing a resident who may be feeling down after moving into aged care, losing their home and independence become the life and sole of the household. This is what brings me to work each day.
Michelle Dawes - Team Leader for Support Workers in Home Care
Michelle is a dedicated and compassionate Calvary employee, who has been with the organisation for three years.
Michelle’s inspiration to pursue a career in aged care came from a personal experience when her grandfather had a stroke and needed care in an aged care facility.
Witnessing the amazing care and support provided to her grandfather and the entire family, Michelle realised that aged care facilities were a great support system and not the end of having a fulfilling happy life.
In her journey as an aged care professional, Michelle has made a significant difference in the lives of the clients she cares for, both directly and indirectly. Initially working in Residential Aged Care at St Vincent De Paul, she ensured residents felt safe, warm, always had something to eat, and most importantly, company and companionship with someone to talk to whenever needed.
Now, as part of the Calvary team, she takes pride in offering support to families and their loved ones in the comfort of their homes.
Her friendly nature has left a positive impact on the lives of those in her care by truly understanding each individual as a person, not just a client.
Michelle emphasised the importance of the support given by the office staff and the hard work of Support Workers who go above and beyond to care for all the clients. “Every single staff member has a special quality that they bring to our Calvary team. Their care and dedication to ensure all of our clients are cared for is what makes our team work together so well,” she said.
The ACED theme, You all make a difference, deeply resonates with her and she acknowledged that “it’s not just one individual who makes everything work; it’s the combined efforts of the entire team that truly makes a difference in the lives of the clients.”
Michelle’s professionalism shines through in all she does Calvary and we’d like to say a big thanks for caring!
Sheather – Respite Coordinator at Star of the Sea Respite Cottage Calvary Home Care
Q. How long have you been at Calvary/ in your role?
A. I have worked for Calvary for almost 28 years transitioning from catholic care.
Q. What do you do – what’s your core focus?
A. I work as the Respite Coordinator at Star of the Sea Cottage in Forster for the last 10 years prior to other positions I have held with the company including Support Staff and Case manager my focus now is the cottage and clients.
Q. What do you love about your role at Calvary?
A. I love the challenge everyday of trying to make life better for clients by making an environment they enjoy to come to.
Q. What inspired you to pursue a career in aged care?
A. Looking after older people that were in nursing homes 35 years ago and I wasn’t happy with the care they received.
Q. Does the Aged Care Employee Day theme “You all make a difference” resonate with you? If so, how?
A. Yes it does, I have a wonderful team of staff that are very special, they care and share my passion.
Q. How do you maintain a sense of fulfilment and purpose in your role? What gets you up in the morning?
A. I get enjoyment when I see happy clients and content staff and rested carers as I know we make a difference.
