Anglicare Southern Queensland has week launched a new campaign which recognises and pays homage to Seniors living in Regional Queensland.
With approximately 36% of people over the age of 65 years living in regional and remote communities, the Most Remote Care Worker campaign follows a day-in-the-life of one of its home care workers Andrea Davis (pictured), who goes the extra mile to ensure elderly clients can remain as independent as possible in their own home around Longreach and surrounding areas.
Andrea Davis fell in love with outback Queensland and its people, and spends her days supporting the community as an aged care worker.
The campaign is a short film which was shot in Longreach and Ilfracombe and will be shown in cinemas, on SBS On Demand, Youtube and on social media.
Every year, Anglicare’s nursing and personal care staff travel almost six million kilometres to support their clients to stay independent – that’s 17 trips to the moon or 150 trips around the world.
Known as “the heart of the outback”, Longreach is 13 hours by car from Brisbane and for Home Care Worker Andrea, Longreach isn’t just home, it’s her community.
Andrea is one of Queensland’s many unsung heroes and spends her days supporting her clients, and thinking of ways she can improve their lives.
“One of our ladies grew up on a property outside here (Longreach),” says Andrea.
“Her dad managed the place. She would talk about it. One day I said to her, ‘Would you like to go back there?’ so I tracked down the owner, and asked if it was OK if she came back. She saw the homestead. Everything had changed, but she loved that day so much. She’s talked about it ever since,.”
Andrea never intended a career in aged care but what was initially a two-week ‘visit’ to Longreach five years ago changed her life.
“I came out here for two weeks and stayed out,” she said.
“I find the city quite overwhelming whenever I go back. It’s beautiful here.”
But her love of the landscape didn’t help her get a job when she first arrived. After missing out on a role at the local bank, she realised it was time to retrain, and she completed her Certificate III in Aged Care. She was soon approached by Anglicare and started working with those in need in her community.
“I really enjoyed the work, the face-to-face, the variety, going to people’s homes,” she said.
She has since trained further, and is now a Team Leader, and manages the budgets of clients with aged care packages too.
While her clients certainly appreciate all that she and her team do, Andrea said she’s got a whole new level of respect for people who live remotely on the land.
“It’s a great job – it’s the best job. It really is.”
Making a difference is the ethos the team at Anglicare Southern Queensland live by. For the past 150 years, the organisation has supported people from all sectors of the community, with an estimated one-in-every-thirty Queenslanders empowered by the services they provide.
For more information you can visit the website https://anglicaresq.org.au/remote/
