Delegate Rebecca Ainslie

Your HACSU workplace delegate

REBECCA AINSLIE

AGED CARER STRATHDEVON & TANDARA

I'VE BEEN at Strathdevon in Latrobe for 9 years and Tandara Lodge in Sheffield for 4 months and work at both sites as an Extended Care Assistant. My average working day sees me out of bed with enough time to feed the horses before leaving for my half hour drive to work. At handover, I see if we have a full crew of staff and, if not, a plan is worked out on how to best manage the morning. Before breakfast we help people sit up in bed with their table, or toilet and sit in their chair, some residents simply need help with a dressing gown before they go to the dining room for brekkie. What shift I'm doing affects what job I have at breakfast, usually making cups of tea or coffee in the dining room and serving porridge, toast etc, or I push the meal trolley and deliver breakfast to those who like to stay in their rooms. If I finish the deliveries in good time I help out with an assist meal if the other carers are behind. As soon as breakfast is done the rest of the morning is filled with helping with showers, toileting and dressing, making beds, tidying rooms and doing progress notes. Some residents love it when I help them as they catch up with the latest gossip on how my horses are performing and what I've been up to with them or what new horse I’ve bought or am going to buy. At some point I'll find somewhere suitable during the morning for a coffee break. Lunch is much the same as breakfast except the slow risers manage to get to the dining room so it's a lot busier and louder, and after the rush I have my own lunch. The afternoon is filled with changing sanitary items, repositions, transfers, toileting, more documentation and whatever other issues need addressing. After work I sometimes call in at the supermarket for a few things before going home to ride and train a horse and take feed out to the horses, dogs, cat and chooks - by then its time to feed the family. Before working in aged care I was a stay-at-home mum for a couple of years before going mad being at home so I enrolled in an aged care course, and before that I was a cleaner and kitchenhand at Cradle Mountain. I’ve been in the union for 6 or 7 years and I got roped into being a delegate as a co-worker left the facility leaving one delegate behind and she wanted a united front so talked me into helping her, though she's also since left. As a delegate I help staff with issues they may have with another staff member, a new contract, picking up or dropping shifts or just pointing out what they're entitled to with breaks or pay etc. Most recently we had an issue over UAW wanting to remove paid meal breaks before agreement negotiations. With HACSU's help it was taken to Fair Work who stated there was to be a vote by staff to ascertain Yes to remove the paid break or No to keep it, and after much drama the final vote was to keep it. As a delegate I like to feel I've done my part encouraging people not to vote away our entitlements and encouraging those who don't

Your HACSU workplace delegate

get a paid break to vote because once it's gone we can't fight for everyone else to get it. I hope the future brings harmony between workers, more funding to allow for improvements and better equipment to make care work easier and a decent payrise in line with what carers actually do. When I'm not at work, horses pretty much take over my life and I compete in endurance riding. Most rides are 80kms and on my fit horse we usually finish in 5.5 to 6 hours, but my inexperienced mare is around 7 hours, it depends on the track and the weather. While riding I like playing my spotify country album on loudspeaker off my phone. Endurance riding allows me to set up camp on a Friday and have the horse vet checked ready for Saturday, followed by drinks with mates around the campfire. Then it's up before daylight on Saturday for a 40km leg, another vet check before a quick break and then the next 40km leg. There's a final check of the horse at the end to give the successful all good or "sorry your horse is lame or too stressed to pass" etc. Last time i checked, Zeus and I were both 1st in our weight division for distance in Australia. It's not just the riding though, it's also catching up with mates and de-stressing that I really enjoy.