We often hear people downplaying their roles in care. But the everyday work of the care workforce is absolutely essential to everyone else involved.
In this episode we hear more about what that means, and how the little things you do every day in your work make a huge difference.
Special thanks to all our guests, and to the organisations that helped:
Looking for some inspiration? Check out these great resources and links:Â
SNACK has been produced by COTA Queensland as part of the Homecare Workforce Support Program, which receives grant funding from the Australian Government.
Andrea Petriwskyj 00:00
We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands on which this podcast has been produced and we pay our respects to elder’s past and present.
00:08
Your caregiver whether she’d be the cleaner, the mower, man, whoever. They’re your contact with that organisation. And they’re the ones who trust
00:19
the furrows the workers are the heart of our organisation, the PCs. Personal Care is on the front line from vital relationships with our clients, and the defence of the organisation. It’s not just the cleaning of the
Shareen 00:33
floors and hanging out the washing,
00:37
mother of Tracy stuff that’s going on underneath.
00:41
Oh, it was like a breath of fresh air. It was just a load lifted was just so welcome. I could face another very full on week of carry.
Andrea Petriwskyj 00:55
Welcome to snack, the aged care podcast where we break down some of the big questions around what it really means to be person centred. I’m Dr. Andrea Petrovsky. I’m a gerontologist and I’m passionate about hearing and sharing the real life experiences of ageing. In this episode, we want to talk about the little things that you do everyday in your work that make a huge difference. We often hear people downplaying their roles in care. I’m just doing the cleaning, or I’m just helping with transport. But the truth is, there are no small roles in care. The everyday work of the care workforce is absolutely essential to everyone else involved. So today, we want to hear more about what that means. First up today, I want to share a conversation with Jude, we asked you what receiving care is all about for her and what it means to her to receive support at home. Let’s hear what you’d had to say.
01:56
Yeah, well, right. At the end of the assessment, the cat assessment, I was asked what, what was my goal? And before I had a chance to answer, the assessor actually answered for me and said, I suppose it’s to manage better? And I said, no, no. It’s to thrive. Okay, my body’s really falling apart, I think my mind still reasonably good. And I think one of my tasks left in life, I’ve got time to think and time to read is to actually contributes in some way from from that to be able to, yeah, just to talk with young younger people quite often about all sorts of things. And to earn to and to come to new understandings about things. Yeah. The challenge perceptions,
Andrea Petriwskyj 02:51
you know, an important thing for providers and for care staff, as our listeners to understand that, that philosophy, it’s not about getting by, it’s not about just getting through something, it’s about, you know, helping you with a bit of support that you need so that you can live the Fallen best life.
03:14
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, one of the reasons I really fight for services for myself is that I want to be the best person I can be. And I’ve always had a philosophy of where we all have to contribute into society. So so it’s important for me to have the assistance that I need to actually do that.
Andrea Petriwskyj 03:45
family carers often and being part of the care relationship, and the support you provide can have a huge impact for them. Jenny has experienced as a family carer as well as professional experience in the care sector. What difference has it made in your own experience? Having access to homecare services, having personal care is able to provide support in your family.
04:09
Enormous I wouldn’t be able to work if I wasn’t able to have regular carers regular and reliable carers who know mum, well, and if I couldn’t work, then I wouldn’t be able to pay the mortgage. And I know of different situations where people who may not live like mum lives with me but but people who go regularly to their parents, they’re torn between that and supporting say, their daughter by looking after the grandchildren so their daughter could go to work, you know, and because of the issues with childcare, and so there’s this ripple effect of the impact that it has. If we if the person the older person doesn’t get the support at home. It really does have that domino effect. It’s, you know, I care accom ring Least to say that they can’t come into work. If I’m someone who’s in a casual role, well, I can’t rely on carers leave to to look after mum necessarily, you know? Yeah, it does have that big domino effect
Andrea Petriwskyj 05:15
is we’ve spoken a lot with providers, and who all see the direct care workforce as really the most crucial part of the organisation. But on the other hand, we also hear that care and support workers don’t always feel seen and valued. So what would you say to our listeners about how you see that role?
05:32
I think support workers are so important today is so valued, and they’re so crucial, particularly ones that are adequately skilled and, and trained up. Because I think they then value their own role as well. Certainly my area on the Sunshine Coast, a lot of people have moved up here while they’re well and fit inactive. But then, of course, you know, friends start to pass away, they’re finding themselves more isolated, their own health issues impact upon them. And so they don’t have the family here to, to rely on to help them with services and, and support and their home is their home, and they don’t want to uproot and move again. So the reliant on people popping in, to help them out is is crucial for their ongoing quality of life. And engagement. I think, I think also checking on them the welfare aspect, you know, very often we’ll get family who will come up to the Sunshine Coast and visit their relatives or relatives once a year. And they’ll be so surprised, because over the phone, they thought that, you know, their family member was coping quite well. So somebody’s going in on a on a regular basis, who knows that person can identify, you know, if things are not right, so things like a chatty person is suddenly quiet and withdrawn. Or maybe they’re more disorientated, you know, they quite confused or it’s quite obvious, they haven’t eaten for a while or prepared anything for themselves. So without having someone going in, that is skilled and knowledgeable about that. You know, you don’t have anyone to raise the flags to the care coordinator that something’s amiss here.
Andrea Petriwskyj 07:29
There are some really important services that are dedicated to supporting family and unpaid carers. So to understand a bit more about what they see happening. We also spoke with Sam and Christine who work with family and unpaid carers at will always carry gateway.
Andrea Petriwskyj 07:50
James speaking Hi, Sam. Its Andrea. How you going? Oh, hi, good, Sam. We’ve been talking with a number of people about the things that professional carers do the seemingly small everyday tasks and actions that make actually a really big difference in people’s lives. Now in your work with family and unpaid carers, what kinds of impacts do you see professional carers making in families lives?
08:16
I think from my perspective, it’s really about sharing the load. Quite often family and unpaid carers can feel very alone, or they may have been providing support for their loved ones for quite an extended period of time without any recognition of their roles or the responsibilities that they have with their loved ones. When a professional carer is introduced into their family setting, quite often it can also be a source of respite and a source of social connection. And I think a part of having obviously professional carers being introduced in the home it hopefully helps support the the unpaid or family carer with safer practices in the home, it might be an introduction of equipment that makes manual handling easier, and might new approaches to behaviour management strategies they’ve not come across because quite often family carers would find themselves in the caring role, sometimes without any kind of preparation or professional skill sets that paid professional workers you know, have so even having that support and resources and connection in the home can can really make family carers lots lot easier.
Andrea Petriwskyj 09:32
Yeah. Do you have any kind of examples that you’re happy to share with us around the kinds of impacts that you see? Absolutely,
09:41
I guess in my own family situation when we were caring for our grandparents at home, having extra support around mealtimes and personal care, meant that we could focus more on our relationship with our loved ones rather than all the focus actually being on that tasks that we were assisting them with and the issues that we were facing. So it actually helped bring more of a relationship aspect. Back to our interactions. Christine,
Andrea Petriwskyj 10:10
what impact have you seen on families, particularly unpaid and family carers, because it’s a huge role, the caring role, absolutely.
10:17
The impact I think of getting support centres, you know, knowing that, you know, you might be able to leave the house, for that period of time, that might be your opportunity to go to the hairdresser, it might be your opportunity to go to the doctor, while you know that your loved one is at home is safe, and it’s being cared for. So I think it’s that peace of mind thing, I think, is the big impact and the big, the big piece for the carer is just knowing that, you know, the person that’s come has come in, has got the qualifications, it’s needed, that it’s, it’s okay for them to be in the house. And I think that’s a big piece and comfort for a lot of people to have those people come into their home and work with them with the carer. You know, most service providers will do a risk assessment. So if people need a support worker that is able to lift someone, it might be a two person lift, to get someone to have a shower or out of their bed or out of their chair and things like that. It might be someone that needs to, you know, have the peg feeding and things like that. And that’s what it’s all about, and that the carer is has got comfort, I suppose in knowing that the person that’s come into their home can do all of the things that they need, so that they put their loved one is safe, as well.
Andrea Petriwskyj 11:37
Now it’s clear that the role you play as a professional carer is hugely important. But sometimes you might not think of each of the tasks you do every day in your job as being such a big deal. We spoke with Leone from seniors dental care Australia about oral care or helping people look after their mouth. As one example of a small everyday tasks that professional carers undertake that might not seem like a big deal, but actually can have huge impacts. Let’s see what Leonie had to say.
12:09
We know that there are links if you have poor oral health, there are links to heart disease, stroke, and lung disease. And I should also add that it just contributes to our sense of well being and quality of life. If you’ve got a healthy mouth, and you can eat well and smile, and talk and socialise, that’s terrific. But if you’ve got rotting teeth or broken off teeth, infected gums, a smelly mouth, dirty dentures or ill fitting dentures that doesn’t contribute well to your well being and, and have good quality of life. It actually inhibits that. Yeah,
Andrea Petriwskyj 12:56
and you you’ve seen in your own family, as well, but also professionally, that it can mean a lot to people personally in themselves as well, can’t it? That’s right,
13:05
my mother was in a key home with dementia. She was there for five and a half years. And she was different, because she was the only one with her natural teeth, all the others had dentures. And my mother was very proud that she was able to keep her teeth and Schuster’s smile and and show them off. And and I think that the cause she had her own teeth. And I really think that her natural teeth, and her wider food choices, and her better nutrition contributed to her long life.
Andrea Petriwskyj 13:47
What would you say to our listeners, oh, about that
13:51
ask to become more confident and get better skills. And that way, you’ll be more confident and you’ll actually do it better.
Andrea Petriwskyj 14:02
That’s a great reminder from Leone that little tasks can be a big deal. And it’s important to keep building your skill set. We got another professional perspective on this from Shareen, who’s a dementia care coordinator with BlueCare
Shareen 14:16
someone who’s living with dementia really just that that craving they have for having us having a normal life and to really provide the meaningful activities for them that possibly they can’t keep on doing on their own. You know, I was talking to a lady yesterday that had taught someone living with dementia how to play you know, so being you know, and it was having having the chance to have fun play that. Living alone in the community with dementia, this lady would have lost that ability to do something like that. Yeah, and just how how much that meant to her got another personal carer who’s taken the client out and was barbecuing in the park, you know, chicken skewers on the electric barbecue. And that’s just not something that, you know, that’s a very normal activity would have done in the past and without the personal care, facilitating that he’d no longer be able to do something like that. Yeah, yeah.
Andrea Petriwskyj 15:26
Yeah. Because it can mean so much in that person’s life, overall, that person’s quality of life. You know, it’s, it’s not just one little activity that you’re doing. Absolutely. And so and a daughter the other day, were saying to me, it’s,
Shareen 15:46
it’s great to have, you know, the respite time with a personal carer coming into the home. But when she’s noticed that when her mother has the audacity tunity, to do some meaningful activity, it also means she’s, like, just set up for the afternoon that the afternoons are so much better with the daughter.
Andrea Petriwskyj 16:14
There are a couple of important messages we really want to highlight from today’s discussions. The first is how hugely valued and appreciated your work as professional care is. It can feel at times isolating and difficult, particularly when you’re working on your own out and about at people’s homes. But the people you’re supporting and their families see you and appreciate you. The second message is that although it might not be immediately obvious why it matters, how you clean the floor, or help someone brush their teeth or where they spend their day. These are not actually small things. They’re significant things to that person to their family. And what you do in someone’s home on any given day could have more far reaching effects and you realise that’s today’s snack. Thank you so much for joining us and a big thank you to our guests for sharing their insights and ideas. If you want to find out more, you’ll find some great resources and other good stuff on our website Kota QL d.org.au. You’ll find links in the show notes. And please don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you get the next episode as soon as it’s out. Until next time, thanks again and goodbye from the coda Queensland team. This podcast is part of the home care workforce support programme, which receives grant funding from the
Register to receive COTA Queensland’s e-newsletter.
