A Bit Wobbly But Not Alone

The Meekatharra hostel is the only truly nice aged care place I've seen (and I've worked at quite a few). Two sets of motel-style units are nestled around a communal kitchen/dining/office building, all of it set in the cutest little lush garden next to the hospital. There's Butterpup, the small fat guard dog, and The Cat With No Name. We have 6 to 10 residents depending on who's in town and who needs care; other aged care residents from the hospital and the town pop in for the day at random intervals too. Doors are left open and people wander as they like. If anyone isn't back by dark, you call the Community Patrol Bus and they go look for them down at the creek (!) to see if they're all right - some of the aboriginal residents go and sleep out in the bush!

We also do the town's Meals On Wheels, 10 or so older townsfolk (aboriginal and white) who need a little help with food and cleaning. Unlike aged care in the city, there's once again a sense of community spirit and locals all informally keeping an eye on those who are vulnerable or alone. There are also elderly station residents or blokes living alone in the bush, and locals just pop out from time to time to bring them supplies or just visit & check they're OK. Most of it done without paperwork or any formal arrangement, just word of mouth and self-motivation.

One of my clients is Greta, an elderly aboriginal woman who no longer speaks English (she understands it), just chats away in her tribal language and communicates with hand signs - she's a cheery tiny thing and we laugh a lot. I am trying to pick up some of her words but it gets confusing. "Leereuh" could be (a) a sock  (b) Raelene or  (c) that thing over there.

They've put me on about a million shifts (desperate for workers) - I'll have to cut it back as my roster for the next two weeks seems to have me kind of living there (it's 24 hours, so some of the shifts are sleepovers). At the moment we are on snake alert; just two days ago they caught a great big black snake under one of the units, people were standing screaming on chairs and the maintenance guys had to come and drag it out. It's a lot more interesting than nursing homes in Melbourne!