Here at Interchange Australia we have a wide range of staff, both in our office and out in the field performing all the services for our valued clients and participants. Our office staff consist of a mixture of Aged Care team members and NDIS team members who work on a range of different tasks on their day to day basis. We regularly try to shine a spotlight on these amazing staff to show you all just how incredibly hard working they all are.
Today we are introducing you to the incredible Kim, who is one of our Aged Care Client Support Coordinators in the Bowral Office.
I love the staff at Interchange Australia and we have a great team of dedicated, caring people. The staff in the office and the support workers in the field go to great lengths to ensure the clients receive the care and service they deserve.
By Interchange Australia Marketing Coordinator Tahlia Bunt.
My name is Kim, I have been married to my husband Phillip for thirty seven years and we have one daughter, Grace. I have lived in so many different cities in my life, 15 years in Albury with my parents, Parkes, Sydney and then for 17 years my husband and I lived in Wagga Wagga until my he got itchy feet and we moved to Moss Vale, four years later we moved to Walwa in Victoria for two years then back to Wagga until we settled back in the Southern Highlands in 2019. As our daughter Grace has lived in Sydney for the last 8 years, it has been wonderful to be able to visit her or have her come to visit us often without having to travel too far.
My working history has mostly been administration, although I did start out as a dental nurse. After working a few years with Radiologists and Orthopaedic Surgeons, I moved into working for Not-For-Profits and more specifically for charities. I worked with young people with disabilities, children with life threatening Illnesses, tourism, welfare and I even spent six months working in a pharmacy.
My previous role before starting at Interchange was as administration officer working for a local charity in Wagga who looked after families with children who had life threatening illnesses. I looked after everything administration wise from writing receipts to banking, payroll, finance, insurance, to going to buy the sausages and bread rolls for a fundraiser. Every year we had what we called the “Time Out for Life” holiday camp for about seventy children and their buddies (volunteer carers) so this took a lot of time, helping to organise this annual event.
Due to my husband’s itchy feet or some would say, mid-life crisis, we left Wagga Wagga and my last job and we moved to Bowral about two and a half years ago. Even though Phillip had to physically place me in the car to get me here, I have not regretted the move at all. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Southern Highlands and wouldn’t want to move (at this point in time).
I was fortunate that a receptionist role became available at Interchange and I was successful securing this role. I worked on my own for about five months in reception and was kept extremely busy. After this time Dianna was employed, (who a lot of you would know) and we worked out a great system on the desk, working well together.
In January this year I moved to the Aged Care department as Client Support Coordinator, out the back of the office, working a combination of admin and client work. This is an area where we are constantly receiving referrals for new clients so because we have been so busy, the last two months I have focussed totally on on-boarding new clients. I find out the clients’ expectations of the service they are after and how they envision the service, this could be domestic assistance, personal care, social support or flexible respite.
We have a conversation over the phone for about one hour and I ask all sorts of questions so we can tailor the service to suit the individual, then I prepare the documents and organise a home visit to explain the forms to the client and have them sign them and then back to the office scanning, saving, recording. It’s quite a long process in the back ground but worth it. I really love working in Aged Care in this role, I love working with the elderly and with all the paperwork that needs to be completed, the “admin girl” inside is totally satisfied.
I love the staff at Interchange Australia and we have a great team of dedicated, caring people. The staff in the office and the support workers in the field go to great lengths to ensure the clients receive the care and service they deserve. A big congratulations to everyone for the wonderful work you do. You ARE making a difference!!
