September 16th, 2023Jim Lycett: Residents’ advocate at Hepburn House

It’s a job you have to do well. Jim Lycett was an hydraulics engineer with Ansett Airlines – working on the important things like landing gear and brakes – and he loved it.

Now and again Jim would get the call that he had an hour to get on a plane to Brisbane to work on a jet up there, and would call his wife Linda to say he would be home the following day.
“We never got much notice but I loved it. We would often sit up with the pilots and I just thought it was a terrific job.”
Jim retired in 1986 after Linda suffered from a few health issues but the couple continued with life in Ballarat, living pretty independently.
When Linda’s health worsened, from having a few falls at home to being kept in hospital for a week about eight years ago, the doctors made the call and said she had to move into full-time care. Hepburn House was the choice.
Jim, then 88, lived alone and thought he was coping pretty well. “I learned to cook a bit, nothing like Linda, she was a real hot cook. I remember her serving up meals to 300 people in a church one time, no problem. But I did a bit of slow cooking and I would freeze some meals, and our daughter and daughter-in-law arranged for fortnightly supermarket delivery.”
But eventually, after chats with his doctor, Jim also moved into Hepburn House and is loving life there, although Linda has sadly since passed away.
At 96 Jim has taken on another career as a sort of part-time counsellor and residents’ advocate.
“If the residents have a grizzle and don’t want to take it to the top they can refer it to me and I listen to them and ask if they want to take it further. Mostly they don’t but they can pour out their troubles and I listen. If they do want me to take it higher up I talk to the staff or even the manager Dianne.
“Mind you, I very rarely get any grizzles. It’s great here, we are very well treated, and it’s just like being with a big family. The staff cook great meals, they do the cleaning and then we have the carers looking after us. And I still get out and about – I visit my sister at Clarkfield for a week or so now and again. It’s a good life.”
Hepburn House is a progressive aged care centre offering a highly advanced, fully personalised range of aged care services for residents in a home-like setting.