November 9th, 2024Shelley Simpson new manager at Hepburn House
Shelley Simpson is the new manager at Hepburn House and after just five weeks is already loving her place in the community.
Raised in Geelong and living in Ballarat for the past eight years, Shelley said she came to health care relatively late in life.
“I was a bit of a late bloomer to nursing. When my grandma was admitted to hospital and getting cared for by the amazing nurses, I thought this is the career I want to do, and it would be very rewarding.
“I started off as a personal carer and then I went and completed my certificate of nursing (Div 2), after that all my friends had gone off and become registered nurses so I did that as well.
“I worked in aged care in Geelong while I worked my way through university. Once I became a registered nurse I commenced work in community nursing and then kind of fell into community palliative care – and that is where I spent most of my nursing.
“When I moved to Ballarat I started work at Ballarat Hospice Care and then I just found myself in aged care and I’ve loved it ever since. I was an assistant manager at Bupa Ballarat and then stepped into this role.”
Shelley said she loved working with older people, being able to have a chat and a laugh, learn their history and have the ability to give them choices and to live there best life.
“If the resident doesn’t want to get up at seven o’clock, have breakfast and have a shower, they don’t need to. It’s all about choice basically because it’s their home.
“Also being able to offier the ability for person-centered care that focuses on their individual needs and desired health outcomes.”
Shelley said after five weeks she was already loving the staff, residents and Hepburn House. And former manager Dianne Jones had been very supportive in the changeover.
“Once I had settled into my role, I would like to become more involved in the community engagement for the residents.
“Having the local kindergartens/daycare, primary and high school involved and doing more activities in home with the residents and out in the community. Having that big community focus, I think that’ll be great.
“At my previous employment we used to have kindergarten kids come and they had such a great relationship with the residents, and vice-versa.
“We even had a resident who used to make little wooden toys for the children. It was just lovely. So I hope we can get that happening. No big changes, just a bit more community-oriented.”
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