By Max Davies
Kilmore District Health, KDH, staff celebrated Aged Care Employee Day last Monday – a chance for residents and aged care staff to show their appreciation for one another and reflect on their important work.
KDH hosted a range of events at Caladenia Nursing Home and Dianella Hostel, with a barbecue lunch, ice cream truck, photo booth and music creating a memorable day.
Australian National Aged Care Classification, AN-ACC, coordinator and endorsed enrolled nurse at Caledenia Allison Helgesen said the day was a chance for everyone at the home to be together.
“It’s such a happy, amazing atmosphere here. The staff come together for our residents, I know it’s employee day, but ultimately it’s for our consumers here,” she said.
“Every staff member brings something unique to this aged care facility and that’s why it works so well.
“We’re an ageing population, so we treat people the way that we’d like to be treated.”
Ms Helgesen also prepared a ‘poem from dedicated aged care workers’, featuring lines such as ‘working harder is what we do well; because this is who we are’ and ‘rest now… you are safe in our hands’.
Caladenia resident Sheila Page, who has lived at the home for just over a year, said she had ‘no complaints’ about the care she had received at the home.
“This is a happy place, you can always hear somebody laughing or talking and when you walk into a place like that, you know it’s the right one and they look after me quite well,” she said.
“I’ve got no complaints – if I have complaints, I tell them and they fix it.
“The staff, they treat you like you’re going to go out to have tea with them. They’re very friendly and very happy, which is the perfect thing.”
Dianella endorsed enrolled nurse Caroline Walters said the hostel team was proud of its ability to offer a service that catered for residents.
“It’s beautiful, a lot of the residents that come through are local people and it’s just a really lovely, homely place to work,” she said.
“We all love our job, and we probably wouldn’t have made it through COVID without that.
“We just love working with the oldies and making sure that they’re well cared for and that they’re happy, and we have a really good relationship with families, so we all work together as a team.”
Despite the difficulties faced through the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms Walters reflected on the hostel’s efforts to keep all residents and staff safe.
Dianella resident Jennifer Woods said she had lived at the hostel for about nine months and ‘thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere’.
“It’s not so bad here, you get everything you want, the staff are looking after you very, very well and we get treated equally, everything’s wonderful. You couldn’t ask for anything more,” she said.
“Today’s been absolutely great, what a lovely and enjoyable day we’ve had. There’s been food, ice creams and there’s more yum-yums to come.”
