We can and must make a difference
Alba Vignolo loves working in aged care.
For four years Alba has worked as an AIN at a high care facility, where she says she’s much better off than her colleagues in other workplaces.
"I’m extremely fortunate because I’m on a union agreement where I have a career path and comparatively better wages and conditions than other aged care providers.
"However it’s a fact that compared to the public sector, aged care staff are paid much less.
"It’s just not fair that for an equal amount of work aged care nursing and care staff are paid so differently," she says.
As a result, Alba says many employers are having difficulty attracting skilled and trained nursing staff.
"So while staff levels fail to grow or even drop in some workplaces, the care needs of residents continues to increase, as do the number of those needing care," she says.
"This is having a dramatic impact on the workloads of staff in these facilities, and ultimately on the care they can provide to residents."
According to Alba most nursing and care staff have time to look after the basic needs of residents, but not much more.
"Some need more human contact and interaction, but due to the heavy workloads there’s simply not enough time to give it," she says.
"We’re always pulling away from people who want to you to sit with them for just one minute because we have to see others who haven’t had their basic needs looked after yet.
"It would be really nice to have more time to sit with the residents—this is the heart of what it is to work in aged care."
Alba says the QNU/ANF campaign gives aged care nursing and care staff a unique opportunity to call for improvements that will make a difference to their work and their residents.
"We have an opportunity now which in a few years I don’t think we’ll have," she says
"We must call for urgent improvements to pay and conditions to keep nurses in aged care.
"We must join together in this important campaign because we’re the ones who can and must make a difference."
In pictures: Because We Care Day of Action
In pictures: Because We Care campaign
Shortcuts: Because We Care about aged care
