By Layton Holley : The Border Mail
February 2 2024 - 1:00am
A squadron of migrant workers has stepped in to rescue an Albury aged care centre from "severe" staff shortages.
Lutheran Aged Care joined forces with Groworx, a recruitment and training company, to bring 26 Filipino workers and nurses to Albury.
The partnership started in October 2023 with 10 care workers and three nurses arriving on the Border.
On Tuesday, January 30, the team expanded to 26, of whom eight are nurses and 16 are skilled staff.
Wendy Rocks, managing director of Lutheran Aged Care, explained that the addition of these workers was desperately needed.
"This means everything to us and to our residents," she said.
"When these new workers are fully inducted and are on the floor, our Albury facilities will be in a much better situation.
"We won't have to rely on agency workers or working our own staff to death with overtime, which is what has been happening."
Like many sectors, staff shortages have plagued the aged care industry over the last couple of years.
Due to this, Ms Rocks said both staff and residents have suffered.
"We were like everybody else, incredibly short staffed and just really no answers to that in the short term," she said.
"We were struggling to fill rosters, struggling to manage risks that arise from that, and we were unable to approve our hard working staff for leave - it just goes on and on.
"As a result, we have had to occasionally adjust occupancy for that reason in the last couple of years."
Ms Rocks said since Covid, they have had to rely on fly-in-fly-out agency staff, which proved costly and less than ideal for residents.
"This has allowed us to reduce, if not wipe out, our agency staff costs," she said.
"I think our residents are relieved that there's more staff on the ground and there's less agency staff, because they're temporary and they don't always know about long term care or the residents.
"Having a stable workforce is everything in aged care."
Managing director of Lutheran Aged Care Wendy Rocks said the new Filipino workers have already made a difference to the organisation.
Ms Rocks said the new workers have already made an impact, and encouraged other industries to explore similar opportunities.
"They have made a huge difference to the morale of everybody in the organisation, especially the staff," she said.
"I think other businesses should look into doing this."
Read More Here >>
By Layton Holley : The Border Mail
February 2 2024 - 1:00am
A squadron of migrant workers has stepped in to rescue an Albury aged care centre from "severe" staff shortages.
Lutheran Aged Care joined forces with Groworx, a recruitment and training company, to bring 26 Filipino workers and nurses to Albury.
The partnership started in October 2023 with 10 care workers and three nurses arriving on the Border.
On Tuesday, January 30, the team expanded to 26, of whom eight are nurses and 16 are skilled staff.
Wendy Rocks, managing director of Lutheran Aged Care, explained that the addition of these workers was desperately needed.
"This means everything to us and to our residents," she said.
"When these new workers are fully inducted and are on the floor, our Albury facilities will be in a much better situation.
"We won't have to rely on agency workers or working our own staff to death with overtime, which is what has been happening."
Like many sectors, staff shortages have plagued the aged care industry over the last couple of years.
Due to this, Ms Rocks said both staff and residents have suffered.
"We were like everybody else, incredibly short staffed and just really no answers to that in the short term," she said.
"We were struggling to fill rosters, struggling to manage risks that arise from that, and we were unable to approve our hard working staff for leave - it just goes on and on.
"As a result, we have had to occasionally adjust occupancy for that reason in the last couple of years."
Ms Rocks said since Covid, they have had to rely on fly-in-fly-out agency staff, which proved costly and less than ideal for residents.
"This has allowed us to reduce, if not wipe out, our agency staff costs," she said.
"I think our residents are relieved that there's more staff on the ground and there's less agency staff, because they're temporary and they don't always know about long term care or the residents.
"Having a stable workforce is everything in aged care."
Managing director of Lutheran Aged Care Wendy Rocks said the new Filipino workers have already made a difference to the organisation.
Ms Rocks said the new workers have already made an impact, and encouraged other industries to explore similar opportunities.
"They have made a huge difference to the morale of everybody in the organisation, especially the staff," she said.
"I think other businesses should look into doing this."
Read More Here >>
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