Watching nursing home staff care for her late grandmother planted a seed in Estella Greenwood that is now blossoming into a career.
The 18 year-old was the successful applicant of Aberlea Mortlake’s latest traineeship to become a qualified Personal Care Assistant (PCA).
She’s working at Aberlea and studying online to complete her Certificate III in Individual Support and said the experience was turning out to be a labour of love.
“I was really close to my grandmother when she lived in a nursing home,” Estella said.
“The team of people that helped her and made her last few years as good as they could be were wonderful and I thought, that’s something I’d like to do.”
Estella lived in Melbourne and completed her VCE at Mater Christi College in Belgrave before moving to Mortlake to live with her mum and look for work.
“I was getting myself enrolled to do the course at TAFE when the opportunity came up to do the 12-month traineeship here,” she said.
“There was an online application, I put my resume in and was lucky enough to get the opportunity which has been wonderful.
“All of the other PCAs have been really fantastic and take the time to teach me. I’m learning heaps.”
Estella Greenwood
Estella said she was considering further training to become a nurse once she completed her current studies.
She urged other school leavers who enjoyed caring for other people to keep an eye out for Aberlea’s next trainee opportunity.
“I really enjoy working with the residents and the staff here are really good. It’s a great place to come every day,” she said.
Aberlea’s Director of Care Services Phil Irvine said Estella was popular with the residents and he was proud the organisation could help launch people into a career in aged care.
He said he anticipated advertising for Aberlea’s next 12-month trainee PCA position towards the end of this year.
“PCAs are in high demand and our team enjoys teaching our trainees, like Estella, to become wonderful, caring, compassionate, professional workers in our industry,” he said.
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