Aged Care Employee Day is an initiative of Leading Age Services Australia. It celebrates more than 360,000 aged care staff around Australia. Our theme #ThanksforCaring recognises each and every team member involved in caring for the 1.3 million older Australians receiving home care or residential care services. This includes nurses and care workers, allied health professionals, hospitality teams, drivers, cleaners, volunteers, lifestyle officers, administration staff and many, many others.
What is Aged Care Employee Day?
‘Aged Care Employee Day’ celebrates each and every team member involved in the journey of caring for people who receive aged care services – from the nurses and care workers, to the allied health professionals, cooks and hospitality teams, to the drivers, cleaners and laundry employees, to the volunteers, to the leisure and lifestyle officers and administration teams.
Through their work, these people often develop meaningful relationships with our older loved ones – becoming defacto family members in the process.
Aged Care Employees Day puts these everyday heroes in the spotlight, celebrates them, and highlights the many different roles of those involved in the aged care journey.
How did Aged Care Employee Day start?
Aged Care Employee Day is an official day, registered with awarenessdays.com. It was created by Not-for-Profit aged care provider Whiddon in 2018. In 2019, Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) made the day a national event dedicated to celebrating the contributions of all aged care employees around Australia.
2021 will be the biggest celebration yet, with all the other provider industry associations promoting the day to their Members.
Aged Care Employee Day is supported by Leading Age Services Australia, ACSA, Anglicare Australia, Baptist Care Australia, Catholic Health Australia, and UnitingCare Australia, OPAN, National Seniors Australia and Dementia Australia.
Is it different to International Nurses Day?
Yes, Aged Care Employee Day is a separate day, however as nurses are a core part of the team who work in aged care, they are also recognised and celebrated as part of this new national day.
While initiatives like International Nurses Day are a fantastic and well known recognition day, they only touch a small percentage of the incredible people involved in the industry.
The aged care workforce in Australia
Everyone who works in aged care, be it residential care or home care, contributes to the overarching care and wellbeing of older people, and this new day is to celebrate the entire workforce.
Australia’s aged care workforce is made up of over 360,000 individuals who contribute to caring for older people. Approximately 80% of these people are working in roles other than Nurse Practitioner, Registered Nurse and Enrolled Nurse.* Our workforce is comprised of roles like Personal Care Assistants, Allied Health Professionals, Catering and Chefs, Cleaning and Laundry, Leisure, Administration, Maintenance, Management and much more.
The individual people who make up the above workforce all have a valuable and essential role to play in caring for our elders, and it is time to recognise the entire group for the difference they make to our communities.
FECCA acknowledges and thanks multicultural aged care workers
Today, on National Aged Care Employee Day, Australia’s peak multicultural organisation— the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA)—acknowledges and thanks all aged care workers, especially those from migrant & multicultural backgrounds for their dedication and service.
The 2016 Census indicated that 37% of those employed in aged and disability sectors were born overseas while those in personal care accounted for half of the number of workers.
FECCA chair, Mary Patetsos, emphasised the critical role multicultural workers fulfil in keeping older people safe during this COVID-19 pandemic.
“Aged Care workers must be valued and appreciated for the critical work they do, as they have done during this pandemic, and their wage and conditions must improve quickly.”
“Aged care workers from migrant & multicultural background play a critical role in looking after older people who do not speak English. These workers are critical to ensuring the language, cultural, and religious needs of older people are met as they age.”
“We must acknowledge that many Aged care workers are on temporary visas, including international students and nurses, of which the overwhelming majority are women.”
“We must support our care workers by ensuring they have adequate pay, training, secure jobs, pathway to permanent residency, and systems that will effectively address discrimination and racism. If we really love and care for our elderly, Australia should value those who care for them as well.”
“On behalf of our community, we thank all Aged Care workers on this National Aged Care Employee Day.”
To all aged care employees, we thank you and honour you on Aged Care Employees Day. This day is for you, to celebrate the incredible work you do, and to show you just how much you make a difference to the lives of older people.
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