A municipality in Melbourne’s inner south is transforming the way it approaches home care service by introducing more flexible employment practices. Through a partnership with the Salvation Army’s Employment Plus, Port Phillip Council is now employing younger people, particularly students. Traditionally seen as an area for middle aged women, then Mayor, Councillor Liz Johnstone, said Port Phillip was now employing a younger breed of home carers, including more men.
“The new approach is bringing new levels of enthusiasm to caring for frail elderly people or people with disabilities living in their own homes,” Liz Johnstone said. “Attracting and holding on to staff is a huge problem in community care for most councils. Port Phillip now offers a career with accreditation and opportunities to move up the ladder.”
Previously Council recruited home carers through newspapers advertisements but there was a high turnover of those applying.
“Home carers no longer have to make a commitment to work for a particular length of time and specific needs regarding shifts can be accommodated,” Liz Johnstone said. “It’s great for working mums and dads. If they can’t start till 9.15 am and need to finish by 3 pm and have school holidays off, it’s fine by us. Residents like it. Also, if male residents prefer to have another male shower them, we can now oblige.”
Stephen Kress, 36, is typical of the breed of new home carers at Port Phillip. Made redundant following the collapse of Ansett, he is retraining as a counsellor and has been working three days a week with Port Phillip since the middle of last year. He was looking for work compatible with studying and saw an advertisement on a computer job site through the Salvos.
“I didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I do,” Stephen Kress said. “I thought I’d just be cleaning people’s toilets. I didn’t anticipate the richness of relationships home carers build with people or how we keep them happy in their homes and out of institution. As I’ve gotten to know my clients better and I’ve been overawed by what they’ve been through in their lives. It’s made me realise how sheltered my life has been compared to people who’ve lived through war and depression.”
Stephen Kress said the experiences of some of his clients had ‘blown him away’.
“One of my clients survived the Burma Railway,” he said. “Another survived Auschwitz. Her husband was in the Warsaw ghetto and jumped off the train on its way to the Treblinka concentration camp. He ended up in the forest, fighting for the Polish Resistance for the next three years. I find their stories inspiring.”
Community care services offered by Port Phillip includes home care, personal care assistance, respite care, delivered meals and property maintenance, as well as social support for isolated people who are frail or have a disability.
