I think you meant to say ‘thank you

When Rae Jamieson wrote a heartfelt Facebook post to Prime Minister Scott Morrison on 21 April she never imagined it would be shared over 2,600 times and attract more than 600 equally passionate comments.

“I certainly did not expect it to go so far and wide, and I am still receiving responses now, which is lovely,” she says.

“When the PM made those comments, we’d already been putting in the time and effort for months, with collective collaboration in our organisation trying to keep our residents safe.

“I just felt we were achieving so much and it was time to say: ‘Look at what the industry has done in Australia, compare it to around the world, it is incredible.’

“But to hear what we heard was very disheartening.”

Rae is Facility Manager of Victoria By The Park in Melbourne and was listening to the Prime Minister along with some of her dedicated staff.

What they felt was so devastating were his comments about locking people away in their rooms during visitor restrictions in residential care.

“I wrote to Scott Morrison to correct what he said but also to let everyone else know what we’re doing in these facilities, to protect our residents and to continue their lives, living with excitement and activities,” she says.

“We have been sitting and holding their hands, talking about their families and giving so much of ourselves, not just because it’s a job but because that’s what we do.

“People who work in aged care don’t do this for the accolades; we do it because we really, genuinely care. We’d been doing this since the end of January.”

Just over a week later, the Prime Minister praised the efforts of Australian aged care and announced specific funding to help residential care.

“I thought to myself ‘it’s about time’,” Rae says. “I respect the Prime Minister and I know that he is extremely busy trying to keep our country safe but I felt like we shouldn’t have had to ask for it.

“That day, Health Minister Greg Hunt’s comments were beautiful and we’ve printed that off, along with the Prime Minister’s positive words, and put them up in our staff room. “For Greg to say ‘we owe a debt of gratitude to our aged care workers’, that’s what we wanted to hear and it was very special.

“We express those sentiments to our staff every day and it was nice to hear that at a national level.”

Rae says the aged care industry is shining at this time, with fantastic responses from families and residents and communication at an all-time high.

“I think we need to make the most of our excellence right now,” she says. “I am certainly encouraging people to make submissions to the Aged Care Royal Commission about the amazing things we are doing in facilities during the pandemic.

“I would like to think that we receive not necessarily praise, but the recognition about how we have managed things. However, I am not sure that is going to happen.

“I do believe this pandemic is unprecedented but the way we have responded—with our professionalism and expertise throughout the industry—is not.”

“It is our job to protect our residents and provide them a caring environment to live in and the best of care. This is what we do, so there is nothing unprecedented in our response. It is what aged care does, and it would be nice to be recognised for that.” ■ Nick Way is Senior Media & Communications Advisor, Leading Age Services Australia. Rae Jamieson’s popular Facebook post is available here.