Personal experience leads to rewarding career change
by KinCare — 18 December 2020
After almost 20 years in the legal sector, Megan made the bold switch to aged care with a role at KinCare. Having connected with KinCare several years earlier while caring for her grandmother, she couldn’t be happier with her career change.
Megan was taking a career break when she serendipitously spotted a KinCare job advertisement suited to her skills.
“I was good at what I did in legal, but I just wasn’t feeling it anymore. I was getting very frustrated with my job and I wasn’t happy,” she explains.
“I took a couple of months off to see what I wanted to do. One day I jumped on Seek and this job was just there – it felt like the universe aligned.”
Megan is a KinCare National Case Coordinator working in the National Sales team in North West Sydney. While her administration skills were easily transferable to the new role, Megan says it was her personal experience as a KinCare Customer that inspired her to apply.
“From about 2013 to 2017, I was a full-time carer for my grandmother. The first couple of years were great, but then it got tough for me. That’s when KinCare was so helpful,” she says.
Megan’s grandmother, Joan, had been living alone in Queensland when she had a serious fall. Rather than moving her to a nursing home, Megan brought Joan to Sydney to live with her. After a few years, Megan, who was working full-time, realised she needed help to properly care for her grandmother who wasn’t eating properly or showering.
After an assessment with an Aged Care Assessment Team, Megan’s doctor put her in contact with KinCare.
“Grandma started with a level one Home Care Package, mainly personal care. We had a regular team of KinCare Home Care Workers and a schedule. When she started to deteriorate, they increased her hours so they could come more frequently throughout the day,” Megan explains.
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“If we didn’t have that, grandma wouldn’t have been able to stay at home. She would have had to go into residential care.”
Megan says having Home Care Workers come in to help Joan with daily tasks such as showering, eating, and changing continence aids took the pressure off her – especially when she was at work. “I could just be the little granddaughter,” she says.
Seeing the benefits of extra care and support at home and gaining an understanding of how Home Care Packages work has given Megan a head start in her new role.
“It’s a whole new world, but I’m really, really enjoying it. I’ve got a good understanding from a customer perspective, so I’m aware of all the Home Care Packages. I feel like I’ve picked it up quickly. For once in my life, I’m waking up so happy to come to work.”
Her firsthand experience has also seen her become an advocate for supporting people to stay living in their own homes as they get older.
“I’m so passionate about Home Care Packages. I believe that to have older people living at home for longer gives them a better quality of life. I’m very passionate about trying to keep people out of nursing homes for as long as you can, and assisting people who don’t have family or friends who can help them, in the way KinCare can.”
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