Grape choice - from wine-making to aged care

Kylie Floyd gave up a career as a wine maker to work in aged care to fullfill her passion to care for older people.

It’s a choice she’s never regretted.

The Echuca-based Uniting AgeWell Home Care Worker has been in her current role for the last three years, and says helping older people, like Cheryl Hicks (pictured), is what she wants to do.

“I learn so much from older people,” Kylie says. “They have led such rich, interesting lives. I treat them the same way I’d like my parents to be treated. With kindness, dignity and respect.”

She’s also where she wants to be. In country Victoria. An area that is in her blood and where her roots run deep.

Kylie truly understands why older people in the community want to carry on living safely and well in their homes for as long as possible, connected to their friends and family in the area they love.

“It’s all about a sense of belonging,” says Kylie. And she should know. She’s travelled the world, but the gum trees in northern Victoria still symbolise ‘home’ to her.

Kylie lives with her partner and their three children in nearby Lockington and says she simply can’t imagine being anywhere else.

She was born in Rochester and was raised and educated in Echuca before embarking on diverse roles in equally diverse areas. Kylie has worked in admin in Melbourne, been a youth work volunteer in Alaska, studied a BSc in viticulture and made wine for a King Valley winery, and worked for a while in Western Australia before returning back to country Victoria.

While Kylie was where she wanted to be, there was still something missing in her life. “I wanted a career where I could make a difference in the community,” she says.

So she studied a Cert III in Individual Support and became a Home Care Worker for the Shire of Campaspe. Three years ago the service was transferred to Uniting AgeWell – and the rest is history!

“Uniting AgeWell is a great place to work,” she says. “Everyone is so supportive, they really grow staff to be the best they can be. I’m very happy and I’m staying put!”

But there’s still a streak of adventure in Kylie. She loves that no two days are the same in aged care. Sometimes she takes her clients out shopping or to appointments, other times she provides personal care or does some domestic work. They often laugh and chat over a cuppa.

Kylie is also happy that aged care offers opportunities for career advancement, and wants to work towards becoming a Care Advisor one day.

She’s at the right place. Uniting AgeWell is a not-for-profit organisation that prides itself on upskilling and ‘growing’ staff. There are also opportunities to earn while you learn, so Home Care Workers are able to perform a number of duties while studying for their Aged Care qualifications Staff also undertake ongoing learning opportunities through our specially tailored Learning and Development programs, keeping them at the forefront of best practices and care in aged care.

If you have a kind heart and want a career with meaning, there are permanent roles for Home Care Workers in the Echuca area. Phone (03) 8527 5800.