Kylie Atfield, Care Services Employee, Calvary Cooinda Retirement Community, Singleton NSW

I have been working in aged care for almost six years, all of that time with Calvary. I wanted a change in career and after seeing my mum become ill and pass away, I decided I wanted to help and work with elderly people.

I love hearing stories from the residents’ past years. It can be a rewarding job seeing the residents happy and also grateful after you have assisted them with those activities of daily living.

I also love to see their faces light up when I take my horse Olly in for Melbourne Cup day or my puppy Lil in for a visit.

A resident named Margaret has been one of my inspirations. Margaret had a stroke more than 20 years ago and came to us to assist her in living the best life possible. Margaret couldn’t do many of the things that she had been able to previously and had to adapt a lot. But she was determined to doing things, like keep walking with a walking frame while she could. Her determination was very inspiring to me, she just didn’t want to give up.