Aged Care Excellence Award winner - Congratulations Vicki!

Vicki Mills, Residential Services Manager (RSM) at Uniting AgeWell Mornington Community Lillian Martin, has been awarded a hugely prestigious honour for aged care excellence in Tasmania.

Vicki was the winner of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s (ANMF) Tasmanian Aged Care Excellence Award for 2022, which was presented at the ANMF conference in Hobart recently.

Several of the staff at “Lills” as the site is affectionately known, nominated Vicki for the award. One of them, Registered Nurse Anna Beinssen wrote: “Vicki is not only the backbone but the heart and soul of Lillian Martin. It is very difficult to find ways to let her know how much we appreciate her but nominating for this award is one way.

“I have nominated Vicki for her long-term commitment to the residents and staff at Lill’s and her consistently excellent and compassionate leadership. She has worked her way up to her current position as manager but has never lost touch with the challenges of working across all areas of Lillian Martin. She will still push a meal cart, make a resident a cup of tea or provide hands on care to ensure the residents of Lillian Martin receive consistently excellent care and all the staff feel supported and appreciated.”

And Vicki, who always knows everything that is going on at the site, had no idea staff had put her name forward. So when she was called up to receive the honour, for once the practical hands-on RSM, who leads by example, teared up and was almost at a loss for words. “It was such an honour, and it was humbling to realise that my colleagues think highly of me,” Vicki says. “We all pull together as a team, everyone has an important and vital role to play in our Lills family.”

The award means the world to Vicki.

Vicki trained as a nurse at the Royal Hobart Hospital, and over 30 years ago, joined the aged care sector.

She started as a registered nurse at Lillian Martin 25 years ago – and is still there!

Her career advancement has been boosted by both text book and practical knowledge. She completed post graduate diplomas in Aged Care and also in Management. And over the years Vicki stepped up and stood in for the Care Manager role and was later appointed to it permanently. The same happened with the RSM role that she took up five years ago.

Vicki is quick to attribute her stellar career progress to the support that Uniting AgeWell has given her over the years. “They’ve empowered me to be all that I can,” she says simply.

Vicki is also one of a number of people in the organisation chosen to take part in the Strategic Leaders Program – and she feels she’s still being challenged and is still growing.

“And each and every day I come to work enthusiastic about making a difference to older people,” she says. “There is something very special about working in aged care.”