Joanne, our longest serving Prestige Inhome Care worker, has been with the team right from the start when Dutiful Daughters was first founded in Eastern Sydney in 2000 and has remained with the Prestige family ever since the acquisition by Prestige Inhome Care in 2017.
Joanne believes that it is the relationships she has built with her clients that makes her job special. She has some client relationships that go back six and even 10 years.
“Some people you just click with. You have good banter, sit, talk and share. They tell me about their life experiences which are interesting and so nice to listen to. Close clients also become perceptive to you and how you are feeling”.
Building a good relationship with a client doesn’t always happen naturally. Joanne believes some key things carers can do to help establish a strong bond is to always treat them well, not talk down to clients and to show respect by taking the time to listen to them.
“The one thing clients really want is to be listened to, especially if they don’t have family members or people nearby. Clients like to know that you are human. It’s only with an in-home carer that you can have that one-to-one connection and often that’s what they want from their carer,” Joanne said.
Her advice to carers workers who are new to the job is to spend time on communication. “I like to sit and give them my full focus. Showing them that you are really interested in how they feel and how things are going with them is the best step to having a good bond with your client.”
With her wonderful record as a care worker and advice like this, Joanne is a fantastic example of what Prestige Inhome Care values stand for. Congratulations Joanne on your 20 years of ongoing service and support.