Aged Care Employee Day in Australia | Everything You Need to Know
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Aged Care Employee Day is a day to thank, honor, recognize and celebrate the hundreds of thousands of people who work in the aged care industry across Australia.
Aged Care employees make a huge difference in the lives of others every day. That’s why we came up with the idea to officially create a day just for aged care employees to pay tribute to these heroes and thank them for caring for our loved ones.
‘Aged Care Employee Day’ is designed to celebrate every team member involved in the journey of caring for people who receive aged care services – from the nurses and care workers, to the cooks and hospitality teams, to the drivers, cleaners and laundry employees, to the volunteers, to the leisure and lifestyle officers and administration teams.
Through their work, these people often develop meaningful relationships with our older loved ones – becoming DeFacto family members in the process. Their dedication to what is a rewarding, yet regularly challenging profession in which they devote themselves to caring for others sets them apart.
Aged Care Employees Day puts these heroes in the spotlight, celebrates them, and highlights the many different roles of those involved in the aged care journey.
To all aged care employees, we thank you and honor you on Aged Care Employees Day. This day is for you, to celebrate the incredible work you do, and to show you just how much you make a difference to the lives of older people.
How did Aged Care Employees Day start?
Aged Care Employee Day is an official day, registered with awarnessdays.com. It was created by the team at an Australian Not-for-Profit aged care provider, Whiddon in 2018. This year, Leading Age Services Australia, the national peak body representing and supporting providers of aged care, home care, and retirement living, will make Aged Care Employee Day a truly national event dedicated to celebrating the incredible contributions of all aged care employees around Australia.
Is Aged Care Employee Day different to International Nurses Day?
Yes, Aged Care Employee Day is a separate day, however as nurses are a core part of the team who work in aged care, they are also recognized and celebrated as part of this new national day.
While initiatives like International Nurses Day are a fantastic and well-known recognition day, they only touch a small percentage of the incredible people involved in the industry.
The aged care workforce in Australia
Everyone who works in aged care, be it residential care or home care, contributes to the overarching care and wellbeing of older people, and this new day is to celebrate the entire workforce.
Australia’s aged care workforce is made up of over 350,000 individuals who contribute to caring for older people. Approximately 80% of these people are working in roles other than Nurse Practitioner, Registered Nurse and Enrolled Nurse. * Most of our workforce is comprised of roles like Personal Care Assistants, Hotel Services, Catering and Chefs, Cleaning and Laundry, Leisure, Administration, Maintenance, Management and much more.
The individual people who make up the above workforce all have a valuable and essential role to play in caring for our elders, and it is time to recognize the entire group for the difference they make to our communities.
The Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce (2018) has identified that “the value of the Personal Care Worker is underestimated. Personal Care Workers form most of the aged care workforce and are the eyes and ears of the entire aged care system”. *
* 2016 National Aged Care Workforce Census and Survey – The Aged Care Workforce, 2016
Source:
http://www.agedcareday.com.au/information/
