What I love most about aged care is that the residents are so appreciative of every little thing we do, the smiles on their faces makes every day so worth it. They’ve become like my extended family, I feel like they are my grandparents.

Warrigal has a fantastic work culture, I have felt supported by my managers and team since I started. You’re never left behind, your team is always there to help you. I’ve also had opportunities to experience other roles and be promoted, as my managers saw potential in me and I was promoted to the fill-in deputy of the care home.

Working in aged care is like a nursing field of its own, because you develop a lot of skills that you don’t get the opportunity to in a hospital.

Since starting here I have developed my critical thinking, decision making, and leadership skills a lot because we have so much more autonomy compared to a hospital (where the doctor is left to make all the decisions).

We have the ability to decide what is best for our residents, because we know them so well.

In a hospital the patients are always sick and grumpy, there is such a quick turnover and they don’t want to be there. You never get to build a relationship with them and they don’t really appreciate you, and that’s the complete opposite in aged care.