ORH’s Community and Home Support Services is a caring friend that supports and encourages people in the community that need a little assistance.
It is a helping hand, a welcoming smile.
And so that Andrea Jones is the first person you see when entering our Community and Home Support Services office makes all the sense in the world.
Her kind and joyful face is the perfect representation of what the work is all about - the desire to be helpful, to lend a hand wherever it is needed, without judgement or prejudice.
Our Community and Home Support Service provides a range of home services to the frail, aged, those with disabilities, or people recovering from surgery, to help them stay in their own homes as long as possible.
That includes things like house and yard work, personal care, doing the shopping, or home maintenance.
“Basically our goal is to help people keep living in their homes, in the manner that they are used to,” Andrea says.
It is clear that she understands deeply how important this is to many people, particularly to an ageing community.
“I absolutely love this work. I couldn’t imagine anything else I’d rather be doing. I feel useful. I feel like I am contributing to the community.”
There’s something very joyful about talking with someone who genuinely loves and appreciates the work that they do.
Andrea is an admin assistant in our Community and Home Support Services team - often the person that answers the phone, or greets people that drop by.
It’s a role that suits perfectly her natural propensity to listen (“you do hear lovely stories"), to empathise and understand.
This admin role is just Andrea’s latest step in her career journey at ORH.
After starting with our environmental services and kitchen teams, Andrea discovered she had a real passion for helping people more directly, as a personal carer.
“I absolutely loved being a carer,” she says with a beaming smile. “It was so rewarding.”
But it was also physically demanding, and in 2022 Andrea suffered a shoulder injury and had to have a reconstruction.
ORH knew that Andrea was too good to lose.
With a strong skill set in administration, coupled with her background as a personal carer, Andrea was the ideal applicant for an admin role in the Community and Home Support Services office.
They say everything happens for a reason, and it seems like Andrea has found her perfect fit, her career happy place.
“I love coming to work - this feels like my dream job,” she says. “I just really love that sense that we are really helping people, that we make a difference in people’s lives.”
“My husband has started talking about retiring. I tell him ‘you can retire, and go fishing.’ I’m going to keep doing this!”
To chat with Andrea and learn more about ORH’s Community and Home Support Services, call 5154 6623, email chss@orh.com.au or drop by their office at 45 Forest Rd.