workforce
Measure in love
SwanCare activities officer Ashleigh Fitzgerald and resident Janet Bald. Photo: SwanCare
How often do staff improve
the lives of residents?
Fiona Millar interviewed
by Dallas Bastian
F
ifty-eight times a day. That’s how often staff from a
Perth-based aged care provider feel they improve a
resident’s life.
The SwanCare team calculated the average figure after hosting
collaborative workshops, facilitated by an external agency, to
figure out just how the small things add up.
Staff from all areas of the organisation were asked to reflect on
their personal and collective impact on residents and discussed
the simple, everyday actions that make a difference to the lives
of the residents and their families, such as a warm smile as the
curtains are drawn in the morning or providing support with
forms or paperwork.
SwanCare activities officer Ashleigh Fitzgerald said she’d never
considered care provided in terms of a figure. “I’ve never thought
[in terms of] a number of how much I help people; it just kind of
naturally happens throughout the day,” she said. “I try to make
every resident seem a family member to me because there are
so many of them that don’t have family, so I treat them all as if
they’re my mum or my dad or my grandparents.”
SwanCare chief executive Graham Francis said the number 58
represents the energy and warmth that all staff members bring
to residents.
“Our entire team is dedicated to achieving the best outcomes
for our community and we really do treat everyone as though
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they’re part of our family, which makes it a very special place to
work and live,” Francis said.
Fiona Millar, manager of human resources at SwanCare, said
recognising that they are making a difference 58 times each day
is rewarding for all staff.
Aged Care Insite spoke with Millar to find out why the provider
decided to host the workshops and what she hopes staff will
think about moving forward.
ACI: Why did SwanCare decide to bring in an external
agency to discuss with staff the different ways they make
a difference to the lives of residents and their families?
FM: SwanCare brought in Employment Office to facilitate our
workshops. Partially because we knew that they were very
good at what they do, and partially because we wanted to
have an external agency that would make our employees feel
comfortable in giving whatever feedback they wanted during
the workshops.
It wasn’t about what we wanted them to say; it was about
what they truly believed at the time.
What was discussed during those workshops? What were
some of the small actions or gestures that staff brought to
the table? In particular, what were some that many hadn’t
given much thought to before?
Initially, Mark, one of the facilitators, began by explaining what
we were about, and the fact that we wanted to find out what our
actual number was, and we were pretty excited to find that out.
So he talked about what kind of things people do every day and
the many departments that impact on our residents. That could
be hospitality services, such as food, laundry, cleaning, our carers,
our registered and enrolled nurses, but also administration and
maintenance, so there’s a varied kind of impact.