Meet Lynn and Ash, mother and daughter who both work at the forefront of care at Catholic Healthcare. Lynn, Ash’s mother, is a Care Advisor for Home & Community Services in the Central Coast, so when Ash was looking for a job she was comforted to know her mum could help her.
When the pandemic started in 2020, twenty six year-old Ash from Mascot decided it was time to step up and help her community.
Like scores of others, she had lost her job in hospitality, and her mother Lynn suggested a role that would really make a difference.
“When mum mentioned that there was an opening for a Community Worker, I knew immediately that it would be a good opportunity,” says Ash.
“I had a desire to work in this area as there was a need for extra support for the elderly and vulnerable, in such an unprecedented time during COVID-19.”
With some former experience working in aged care in Newcastle, Ash found the transition to Community Worker relatively easy.
Now she is thriving, seeing up to 20 clients a week - helping with domestic assistance, personal care, wellbeing and conducting home risk assessments. Her clients hail from diverse cultural, social and economic backgrounds, requiring her to solve problems on the run.
“I’m naturally an adaptable and flexible person and I find this is essential,” says Ash.
“Clients are often struggling with issues such as the burden of growing old - they require someone with warmth and compassion to provide support to them. They often crave contact with a familiar face.”
Meet Lynn.....
Now working with nearly 70 clients, Lynn enjoys the demands and challenges that her role as Care Advisor brings.
Lynn, much like Ash, is at the forefront of care. She has personal contact with multiple clients every day. She works to manage her clients and their needs – including onboarding, assessments and putting together personal care plans. She is also responsible for referring volunteers to help support clients with phone calls or home visits under the Community Visitors’ Scheme (CVS).
“Ash and I work in vastly different physical areas as she’s metro-based and I’m regionally-based,” says Lynn. “Despite this, we have found commonality in what we do, and we find that we can share our experiences with each other working at Catholic Healthcare.”
“For me, it was just comforting to have mum’s support, to be able to confide in her. She was able to provide advice and support when I first started out,” says Ash.
It’s All About Respect…..
Lynn and Ash agree that strong values are needed to guide their work in aged care.
“Respect is essential for what we do and really underpins how we interact with clients and manage their needs,” says Lynn.
“Honesty and transparency are also essential; following through on what we say we’ll offer our clients and really delivering on this promise.”
Ash agrees, “Respect as well as compassion enable me to be able to do my job well. If I can bring some joy into my clients’ lives and make their lived daily experiences better, then I feel like I’ve done my job, it is demonstrating this ‘Respect’ in practice,” adds Ash.
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Image top of page: Ash, pictured with her mum, Lynn.