The Cobar Youth & Fitness Centre’s staff members have recently swapped jobs and are now putting their skills to good use at the Lilliane Brady Village (LBV).
Many “non-essential” services, including the Cobar Shire Council-owned Youthie recreation facility, were forced to close last month as part of the Federal Government’s efforts to slow the spread of Coronavirus.
The Youthie’s staff members Narelle Kriz, Jessie Pagett and Natalia Papierniak-Wojtowicz have since been redeployed to the Council-owned LBV retirement home following a request from director of nursing, Sharon Huon for some extra help.
Mrs Huon said they could always use an extra pair of hands.
“It’s been really good having them here,” Mrs Huon said of the Youthie staff.
“They’ve been doing additional cleaning of high traffic areas which takes the added pressure off our staff.”
In addition to lots of cleaning duties, the Youthie staff have also been helping out with various administration tasks including archiving files, and carrying out minor maintenance tasks.
“It’s also been beneficial to the residents having them here,” Mrs Huon said.
“It gives the residents someone new to interact with.”
Narelle, who has previous experience working in an aged care facility, has been helping to coordinate recreation activities for the aged residents.
“Being a local, many of the residents know me and I know them,” Narelle said.
Before starting in their new roles at their new working location, the Youthie staff undertook infection control training along with special COVID-19 cleaning training to help prepare them for their new duties.
All three said they were enjoying interacting with the residents and staff and were also pleased to be doing something that was useful.
“It’s nice to also be still working together,” Natalia said.
