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Most of the residents here I ’ ve known for probably close to four years now , so we ’ re very close . I know what most people here like and don ’ t like , and we track that with constant communication .
I actually think I ’ ve got a harder job [ than a chef at a restaurant ]. I ’ ve got 87 residents at the moment . I ’ ve got to feed them three times a day and I ’ ve got to make every one of them happy at the same time .
I say that in jest , I do like my job . The first thing is cooking . I couldn ’ t honestly tell you what else I would do if I wasn ’ t cooking as a job . I think cooking is the main part of my job that I enjoy .
I ’ ve also got a really good team . There ’ s only five in my team , but I ’ ve worked with all of them for probably close to 10 years . Growing up I used to cook with my grandma and my mum and my aunt . I think that ’ s what planted the seed in my mind . I have great memories of cooking things like pickles and jams and lemon butter .
I did high school and started my working career in Brisbane . A couple of years into that I wanted to go overseas , and I ended up having an opportunity to travel to Japan .
I worked in a hotel in Japan for a year and a half , in the Western section of the hotel . It was basic French food . And while I was there , the head chef of the hotel said to me , ‘ Would you like to study some Japanese food ’. And so I studied there for about a year and a half and I got a basic Japanese cooking licence .
I came back to Brisbane and moved to Sydney and worked in a lot of Japanese restaurants for a long time , probably for 14 years .
I didn ’ t actually start doing aged care until we moved to Perth . My wife and I made the decision , ‘ Okay , we ’ re going to move to Perth , start a life , start a family ’. And I kind of landed in aged care .
It was good for the family . And it suited us at the time , and I fell in love with it . The relationships , the things that you don ’ t get in the restaurants . You ’ re cooking for somebody and somebody appreciates your food and that ’ s great .
JO SUMNER : LEISURE AND WELLNESS COORDINATOR AT UNITING MIRINJANI , ACT Part of my job is to work alongside the care team and the home makers to look after the social experience and wellbeing of all the residents here . That ’ s through meaningful life and wellbeing programs .
Part of my job is also to establish relationships and network within our local
communities to provide active ageing opportunities , which will improve the quality of their life .
I come in in the morning and usually just go around and check if there ’ s anything that I need to do for anyone : chat with the residents , help them with some breakfast . If there ’ s a resident sitting here early in the morning at the table , I ’ ll get their breakfast for them , make them a cup of tea , whatever . I Just ask them what they ’ d like to do . They don ’ t have to be sitting there until eight o ’ clock to wait for breakfast . If they ’ re up and about , we ’ ll sit down and have a chat about the headlines in the paper and things like that .
Then I just let them have breakfast , wait an hour or so , and then we usually have a structured monthly program . This year ’ s been horrible because of the bush fires , which here in Canberra was absolutely dreadful . We had to stop our program of going out into the community because of the air quality . We were just about to have a go at it again when COVID hit . We had to change our complete program and complete thinking of what we were going to do for these people .
Now I go into every little household and I ’ ll either do a small group activity which then can be a community circle where we can pick a topic to reminisce . We ’ ll do cooking . Residents love quizzes . Generally , they like to sit around in a circle , have a cup of tea , and have a chat .
Then I usually help out with lunch in the afternoon . I probably do just another little community wellbeing check or go around into the rooms . Quite often I go down and do some shopping for them .
Jo Sumner ( 2nd from left ) with residents . Photo : Supplied
By the end of the day , I do my paperwork , answer emails and phone calls and try to get people in or get programs going to continue that connection with the outside community for them . And by then it ’ s time to go home .
A lot of people think it ’ s the fun position , but it ’ s a lot of hard work trying to keep everyone engaged . Uniting always says to us ‘ boredom is a big problem in age care ’. That ’ s one thing we ’ d like to try and step away from , boredom .
When I was young and at school , I thought that I wanted to be a nurse , but I never did anything about it . I ’ m the type of person that just cares for the elderly people . I look at these people that we care for here . I treat them like I would expect my mum to be cared for in a care facility . I think you have to be a special type of person to work in aged care .
I think there ’ s nothing I don ’ t like about this job . I love aged care , but the hardest part is when you form those relationships , not only with the residents but with their family . When they ’ re getting to the end of their life and they go , it ’ s quite distressing sometimes . They are part of your family .
In a lot of cases , we get families that live interstate and they entrust us with their mum ’ s care or uncle ’ s . That ’ s where the relationship builds . It ’ s really tough at the end of the day .
My favourite thing is just spending time with these people who are likeable . We learn so much from them every day . If I can make someone smile throughout their day , this whole job is worth it . If they smile when they see me , they look at me , it ’ s really beautiful . ■ agedcareinsite . com . au 27