A care support service has embarked on a recruitment drive, to employ older people to work in the aged care sector.
The service has offered flexible hours to suit retirees or semi retirees, with job opportunities expected during the next 12 months.
Russell Mason, of Coastal Home Care, visited The Waves Club in Caloundra to launch the campaign and talk to prospective employees.
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With a shortage of aged care workers in Australia, Coastal Care and Mr Mason believed the industry could benefit from employing older people.
“We know that a lot of older people would still like to work part-time or with casual hours but do not have the opportunity,” Mr Mason said.
“For a lot of the work we do with home care recipients, they are perfect. The reduced hours
are not an issue and their ability to relate to elderly people is something we value highly.”
Mr Mason spoke to Caloundra bowlers, who showed interest in getting involved.
“For most of our roles, there’s not a formal qualification needed,” he said.
“It may be driving care recipients to medical appointments, assisting with cooking and
cleaning, or perhaps just giving them a social outlet by having coffee with them.”
“A lot of these efforts would be things that people would enjoy and happily do to assist the
community, but we are also offering payment. It gives people a continued purpose when
they’re winding down work or retiring.”
“Today, we are at The Waves Club and you can imagine how something like this would keep people connected to their own community. When a member needs aged care they may have a familiar friend from the bowls club as their Care Professional.
“We want to start that chain of local people supporting their local communities.”
Gavin Johnston, General Manager of The Waves Club Caloundra, said the community aspect
of the recruiting drive should appeal to its club members.
“As a community club we are all about our members contributing to the community. Giving
our members employment opportunities that also helps those that need a hand is the
prefect ethos for our members, particularly our bowls club.”
It was expected that part-time roles will not affect an individual’s pension or superannuation entitlements, and that positions will become available over the next year.
More information can be found by contacting Coastal Care on (07) 5293 8304.
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