Publish date: 15 October 2024
Between them, Helen Carey, Rhonda Hammer, June Fryer and Zivana Duric have been caring for our community for more than 135 years.
And while their stories may be different, they all have similar reasons for staying with Bethanie all this time – the people they care for and the people they work with.
"I can write a book, so many beautiful stories I have from residents,” says Zivana, who has been part of the Bethanie family for almost 24 years. “I am always thinking that people in aged care, they give their life to building this country.”
Three of this fabulous foursome began their journey in aged care on the same site Bethanie did – the first Aged Care Home, then known as the Churches of Christ, in Joondanna.
Bethanie’s longest serving employee, Helen started almost 49 years ago. “People ask me all the time how much longer I’ll work and I say ‘as the long as the body lets me’. I love it,” she says.
Helen wanted to be a nurse but worked in mental health here and in the United Kingdom before getting married and having children. The need to find a job that fitted around her children led her to aged care.
“I did night duty for 16 years at the Aged Care Home before it became a hostel and then I was a hostel supervisor for quite a few years before registered nurses came in,” she says.
Through all the changes, Helen’s purpose has remained constant - to make residents feel at home. “It's like having another family, because you’re with them so often. They get to know you and you’ve got to respect them and be an ear for them,” she says.
She has also been an ear for her colleagues, with Rhonda among those singing her praises. “I have so much respect for her,” Rhonda says. “I used to work with her three or four days a week, but she’s cut back her hours as well. She’s amazing, she just deals with whatever comes her way.”
Rhonda started with Bethanie almost 35 years ago as a cleaner in Mt Lawley, where she remembers meeting former CEO Chris How, then working as a carer. “He was such a gorgeous, humble person, only a young boy with a bit of a mullet haircut,” she recalls with a laugh.
When she moved to the Joondanna site in 2006, Rhonda was encouraged to become a carer herself. “I thought ‘I can’t do that, I haven’t got the skill’, not knowing that I was exposed to all of that while I worked at Mt Lawley,” she says. “And I was fully supported by the manager and all the staff; the support was amazing.”
It is this support that Rhonda says is integral to working in aged care. “We get a lot of support from each other, we just care about each other,” she says. “I’m just accepted here, why would I go anywhere else?”
Zivana feels the same way. “We just understand each other; people I have worked with for so long, when we care for residents, (it’s) like we can communicate with our eyes,” she says.
When Zivana came to Perth from the former Yugoslavia in 2000, she had to learn English before she could even apply for a job. While it was vastly different to the technical drafting work she used to do, within seven days of starting in the then nursing home she was “happy like Larry”.
"I can’t tell you how many beautiful experiences I have,” she says. “You just listen to their stories; I have one man who was a pilot in the Second World War and he would just talk to me. When he passed away, I was crying because he was a very, very nice man.”
Close friend June also has many fond memories of listening to residents who served in the war. “I knew they wanted to talk about it, so I just let them express themselves,” she says. “I find it very rewarding.”
When June started at Bethanie almost 30 years ago, she was just looking to “get out of the house”. Lacking the confidence for night work, she started in the kitchen before moving to cleaning, which helped her build a relationship with the residents.
“I started doing the night shift, which was a long shift then, staying overnight, and I did that for five or six years before one of the supervisors offered me day work. It took me a while to adjust but I enjoyed it,” she says.
One of the most important parts of being a carer, June says, is to show the residents you care. “You have to gain their trust. If I say ‘give me a minute, I’m going to come back’, I always make a point of doing so – I'm not going to let them down,” she says.
None of these dedicated carers shies away from the difficulties of the job. All agree that empathy, kindness and patience are key – not to mention a healthy sense of humour. It’s also important to keep up with training, particularly with manual handling, and understand how to deal with residents with different behaviours.
And while the nature of their work means they deal with a lot of sadness, there is comfort in being there for others, too. "I think it’s my privilege to be there with them at the end, to hold their hand and see them on their way,” Helen says.
For Zivana, it’s the special moments that show a resident you care. Such as ducking out to the garden to pick a few flowers to put on their bedside table. “We always want to make it nice for them and their families.”
And when the leaves start to fall in autumn, Zivana can be found picking up colourful combinations to sprinkle around, whether by the bedside or in the dining room. ‘I want everything to be perfect, this is their home,” she says.
It’s the kind of thoughtfulness that has made these women such an important part of Bethanie’s 70 year history.
