Congratulations to our August winners for telling us about their personal ‘Share the Care’ experience

$500 Vouchers Winner

Well done Roanne Bonser, Physiotherapist Assistant at Southern Cross Care Nursing Home, Kalgoorlie.

Our small regional nursing home is situated in the dusty Goldfields bowl, catering for the tough old mining residents of long ago. Most of the residents who live in the Kalgoorlie nursing home at Victoria Park have been long standing members of the traditional gold mining town since some of the early days.

I am the Physiotherapist Assistant and Tanya, my work mate, is the Activities Coordinator. Together we are kept busy catering for the demands of each and every one of our 52 residents. In particular, Tanya possesses an uncanny intuitive understanding of each resident’s personality, desires, capabilities and their emotional needs. Due to this exceptional ability, Tanya finds herself at the heart and soul of the resident’s lives; she assists them with all their daily living lifestyle needs and she does it in such a way that she gives the resident’s a sense of fulfilment and great satisfaction.

Tanya goes the extra mile every day by encouraging the resident’s in activities which bring an uplifting and enjoyable experience. Apart from her “job” description, Tanya invokes a very deep personal touch to issues surrounding the resident’s such as any complaints they may have, she extends a great deal of effort on emotional demands such as depression and anxieties which have a way of taking over the resident’s at different times during the day.

One of our most loved resident who has middle stage dementia often falls to pieces with anxieties, confusion and becomes very distressed. Tanya developed a private space for this resident to retreat to when her emotions start to take over. Tanya decorated the area with soothing pictures, activity and reading books. Tanya printed a lovely pink owl sign with the resident’s name on it so the resident would find her special space easily. Tanya set up a table and chair which has a lovely garden outlook which gives peace and tranquillity to the area. This has worked very well for our resident and she has been able to maintain a well balanced emotional outlook because of Tanya’s outstanding awareness of the resident’s needs.

I am very grateful to be part of our team and I enjoy working closely with Tanya because I not only learn a great deal from her every day but I also admire her talents and strength of character. Thank you, Tanya for sharing your amazing soul with us.

One of our cookbook winners

Thank you Brittany Peterson. We hope your Grandparents get well soon and that this story will help find the caring people who assisted.

As an Occupational Therapist I help care for older people on a daily basis, however I was recently very touched by this personal story.

My Grandma has just turned 85, and has recently started experiencing fainting spells out in public. The other week Grandma and her husband (83) were out attending an appointment in the city when unfortunately the two of them tripped on uneven paving and crashed head first into the pavement.

It is reported that they both lay on the ground, disorientated until they were approached by a group of young people who helped them up. These young people, as my grandma recalled to me, made sure both herself and her husband were well enough to travel home, assisted them to call a taxi and then gave them money towards the fare.

This story really touched my heart. My grandma would love to be able to thank the young people who helped her, and has written to the papers to help her do so.

I would love this story to get published in hope that maybe it may also reach those involved. On behalf of my grandma and my family thank you so very much to these strangers for your kindness.