OMG You Work in Aged Care!

People often ask me what I do –usually I reply “I keep my head above water with three children” but then they are hesitant to ask if I have a “real” job which makes my blood boil! I was a stay-at-home-Mum for seven years and boy oh boy is that tough yakka! So rewarding, so important if you have the luxury to do that but so exhausting and at times downright painful! This is certainly not another rant about the merits of being a stay-at-home-Mum so I will not continue with that discussion and leave that to the many other Mummy Bloggers who do it with so much more enthusiasm and finesse! 

When I finally get to the nitty gritty and proclaim I work in Aged Care… quite often I am met with scrunched up, squinty eyes and confused facial expressions! The responses are memorable:

“Is that like old people?”

“Man, you’re brave”

“Really”, (followed by silence and that confused face staring vacantly at me)

And then the downright offensive (brace yourself):

“Why would you want to do that, just wiping old people’s bums and stuff?”

“SO stinky”

“Eeeew that’s so boring and so gross”

I have to take a deep breath, sigh, take another deep breath, pull in my core like Joseph Pilates intended us all to do all the time and intently insist that my career is rewarding, exciting, inspiring and so important. What on earth ‘do people get off on’ speaking like that about Older Australians? Where is the respect for a growing industry of the future that is dynamic, innovative and ah-mazing?! Why oh why is Aged Care shrouded in secrecy, mystery, poor assumptions and innuendo? When will this stop once and for all?

The Aged Care workforce needs recognition, praise and to be put up on the highest of pedestals. These men and women of our industry are stalwarts of compassionate care, often there for the last days of the founders of our community and are ambassadors for quality, appropriate and desperately needed care.

How else will our industry continue to attract the very best of individuals to be pivotal in this growing, ever-changing and fundamentally important industry? How else will we retain our current workforce that is the backbone of the ageing and absolute miracle workers of support and service? How else will Aged Care ever be a priority for governments and policy makers alike?

This is an urgent, important message for the Universe! Working in Aged Care is something to be proud of and to be respected and cherished. It is tough, relentless and sometimes heartbreakingly difficult work but it is rewarding and heart-warming as well. It may at times be thankless but it certainly has a profound impact on the quality of life and well-being of so many in our community.

Most of all it is a lesson for the youth of today, to promote the benefits of working in an industry that supports the aged, to be forward-thinking and on top of the world!!! There is nothing meaningful in life without the recognition of the importance of Aged Care, it is a vital industry that has a racing pulse and is alive and developing fast!

SO next time you are asked what you do – be sure to stand proud, be sure to smile and know that you are part of an industry of the future, an industry that embraces the past and that will forever have importance, integrity and vitality. Be proud to work in Aged Care and never ever let your spirit for change and for service to previous generations extinguish. May the industry continue to thrive with perception, intuition and sensitivity to enable it to flourish with ongoing focus and determination.

Dr Pooja Newman, MBBS

Clinical Director, Ananda Aged Care

Deputy Chair Aged Care Industry Association, South Australia

[email protected]