Bendigo-based Registered Nurse Kellie Pointer appreciates what it is to feel happy at work.
During one of her stints nursing interstate, Kellie recalls feeling bullied to the point that she chose to quit and started flipping burgers at McDonalds instead.
Fast forward and Kellie has been at Uniting AgeWell for three years now, and can’t speak highly enough of the supportive, friendly workplace with its organisational values that resonate with her own: kindness, respect, integrity, innovation and inclusion.
Kellie started off at Uniting AgeWell as a Care Advisor, and then switched into the nursing role.
Over the years she has worked in hospitals, in acute care and palliative care – but working in aged care is where she wants to be. And she attributes this to the very special relationship she had with her Nana when she was growing up.
“I have always been drawn to older people,” Kellie says. “They are our history, they deserve to be treated with respect and with dignity. They all have incredible stories to tell and what some of them have lived through is quite incredible!”
What Kellie has lived through is pretty incredible too! She was raised in Essendon, married young and by the aged of 22 had two children, Kellie at 25 was pregnant with the third child and was working as a personal care assistant at an aged care facility her Nana was living in.
“My Nan had dementia, and I started working there so I could spend more time with her – as well as looking after the other residents of course,” explains Kellie. “I was heart-broken when she died.”
Kellie’s husband, Bill, was a fork-lift driver, and Kellie juggled work, raising the kids and studying to be a Division 2 nurse at the same time.
Fast forward a few years, and Kellie and Bill and their brood, which had since expanded to four children, were living in Kilmore and Kellie had almost completed a Bachelor of Nursing through RMIT and was working at an aged care facility in Whittlesea. She was there during Black Saturday (2009) when the bushfires tore through the area.
Kellie still recalls the stark horror of being at work and living through 24 unimaginable hours not knowing whether her four children were safe. Or even alive. “There was no power, the phone lines were down and I couldn’t get hold of them,” she says. “On top of that I learned that my brother was missing…”
Her brother was found, the kids were well and the aged care facility escaped unscathed. But the stress of it all weighed heavy on Kellie’s mind. She and the family moved to another state for a few years, but relocated to Victoria when her father became ill. Kellie nursed him until he passed away in 2016.
Life is pretty good for Kellie now. She and Bill live just outside Bendigo, she loves her job and is a proud grandmother of eight.
And her advice to those looking for a career in aged care?
“Work for an organisation like Uniting AgeWell that grows and values its staff. They enable employees to be the best that they can. And they care. Really genuinely care. And trust me, that’s something that can’t be underestimated.”
Learn more about nursing career pathways at Uniting AgeWell