Join us as we meet some of our amazing aged care team members.
Working as an Administrative Assistant with BaptistCare’s at home team in WA, Doreen is originally from Dublin, where she still has a home.
The luck of the Irish
“We still have a house in Ireland, and it will always be home, but really, I have two homes now. All of my children have finished their studies here in WA.”
Doreen’s lyrical Irish accent as she describes her daily one-hour swim in the summer months, and her family-famous Christmas Mince Pies recipe transports you to her corner of the world.
“Cooking, baking and swimming, I love them all.”
“So, I make Christmas mince pies at Christmas time - I started when I was about 14 – I’ve got this recipe for mince pies, and I've been making them ever since. I make about 22 dozen each Christmas for friends and family. It’s the pastry that’s most tricky. My granny told me you can either make pastry or you can’t, and I guess I can.”
And when it comes to swimming, Doreen prefers the pool. “I think the ocean in Australia with the Sharks, I'd be terrified of it.”
Swimming is as much about physical as mental wellbeing for Doreen.
“I just think to get more active, and then as you get older, your joints start getting a bit achy, and in the pool, you can't feel that.”
“The hour goes so fast, and I think how lucky I am to be able to swim. It clears your head and you just feel great after it.”
From law to aged care
With more than 20 years of administration experience in the law industry, Doreen wasn’t entirely sure when she joined the BaptistCare Support Services team in Perth, WA.
“I've been here about seven months now and I wasn't sure what to expect when I started because I only ever did legal work.”
“But it’s really quite similar and I’ve just been loving it. Between meeting and greeting people, meeting them on the phone and in person, and organising files and getting content ready for courts and doing lots of memos. So, the work is different, but if anything, the processes are shorter and a bit more straightforward in my current role!”
There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Team’
Doreen says her role at BaptistCare, despite being behind a phone and desk, is rewarding, enjoyable and very satisfying.
“When I began, everybody just was warm and welcoming and happy to meet new people and the team is lovely to be around. If you work with a great team, why wouldn't you recommend it?”
“Because it's so positive, you know the values and you can talk to a manager at any time. It's not like, “oh, I'm afraid to talk to the manager” at all.”
For Doreen, it’s about teamwork and the positive environment where everyone looks out for one another.
“I could have the same job and a different team in a different environment, and it just might be awful because people clash or some people are negative; we don't have that here, so it's really good.”
Family ties
In fact, Doreen’s youngest daughter has recently joined the BaptistCare family. She has just begun studying to be a paramedic and will be working as care worker with BaptistCare to gain experience in caring for older people while she studies at university.
“I would recommend anybody to join it, because I've just been loving it and there's so many opportunities.”
“I’m most proud of my children. My special moment is probably when my youngest just started uni. I have three other ones, but just the thing like they're all grown up now and she's starting uni and it's sad because you know, they're gonna start spreading their wings and do what they need to do.”
