To celebrate Aged Care Employee day, we're sharing stories of some of our incredible Community Workers, Nurses and behind-the-scenes staff. Meet Kaitlin Louth. Kaitlin started working with us 5 years ago as a Community Worker. Since then she's worked in Admin and now works as a Rostering Officer - she's seen it all!
“[Community Gateway] is just a good Organisation. I feel like I’m part of a family when I walk into work, not like I’m just another number. I don’t think you get that sense of support from larger Organisations and I think that’s what has kept me here for so long.”
How long have you worked with Community Gateway?
I‘ve been working here for five years.
What is your role at Community Gateway?
My current role is Rostering Officer. I’ve been doing this for about a year now.
When I started with Community Gateway, I was working as a Community Worker doing things like domestic assistance, social support and personal care. After about a year I was made Permanent, then started doing after hours support and was offered a role as Administration Officer – along the way I’ve covered maternity positions and then I went on maternity leave myself. When I returned to work, I took on the role of Rostering Officer and have been doing that for about a year now.
What do you love most about your job?
[Community Gateway] is just a good Organization. I feel like I’m part of a family when I walk into work, not like I’m just another number. I don’t think you’d get that sense of support from larger Organizations and I think that’s what has kept me here for so long.
Where did your interest in Aged Care come from?
My Mum has worked in Aged Care for over 20 years and she’s a big inspiration for me. I wanted to care for people in need and thought that Aged Care and Disability Support seemed like a good fit for me.
How did you begin working with Community Gateway?
Previously, I’ve struggled with social anxiety and poor mental health, so I actually came to Community Gateway through Workskills. Workskills work with individuals with a disability to help them find meaningful work. I knew I wanted to care for people in some way, and I was lucky that I was matched with Community Gateway.
Do you feel like you get the same satisfaction/fulfilment from Rostering as you did from Community Work?
I sometimes miss having those face to face interactions, but I love my job and feel like I’m helping them in my own way. I like to make sure that our clients are happy – that they are getting the times that work for them and the workers that they might prefer. I hope I can make a difference by putting their service in place and making them happy.
Does a Rostering officer need any special skills?
The systems we use can be tricky to get the hang of at first, so spending time to get the hang of those is important. I’ve worked with many of the Community Workers before which gives me a bit of an understanding of them, their clients and how Rostering can help them do their job. I think it really helps if you get to know the clients and the staff – that’s probably the most important thing.
What does Aged Care Employee Day mean to you?
I think, especially at a time like this, it’s important that we acknowledge our front line workers. We should be thanking them every day for looking after our older Australians, but Aged Care Employee Day is definitely a good place to start.
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