How did your organisation take the call?
Sending the National Guidelines for Spiritual Care in Aged Care to every aged care organisation in Australia takes a whole team. During August, one of our volunteers rang hundreds of organisations to ensure we had their details correct. Here is Rachael’s reflection…
“I’ve just had the privilege of ringing around aged care providers to elicit details for the Guidelines mail out. I say privilege because I was being trusted to represent Meaningful Ageing, and people’s opinion of the company would be influenced by even this brief encounter. As my personal spirituality encompasses a confident belief in a God who responds to my requests, it was also a privilege to pray a silent blessing on the people I spoke to, their organisation, and the people in their care.
It was fun to phone people from all around Australia. I tried to be conscious of the time difference in WA, but one morning I forgot, and rang at 7.30! ‘No matter,’ I was told cheerfully, ‘We’re all up here!’ When I called places I knew, and could visualise their beauty, I came over all warm and fuzzy. And there was nostalgia when I rang places I remember from days gone by [Rachael is 76].
I enjoyed snippets of conversation – ‘How are things in beautiful Byron, it’s freezing in Melbourne!’ And news from an outback town, that we’d better use the PO number as their mail was being stolen. I appreciated patience and kindness from people as I struggled with unusual surnames, and all sorts of accents.
People were mostly happy to give us the name of their CEO, a few refused to do so, but only one said, ‘We’re right thanks’ – and hung up. Some were suspicious that we were selling something, or advertising.
Special thanks must go to my techno husband for managing the spread sheet, and squirrelling out contact details I couldn’t find. We both also enjoyed our days at the office helping to prepare for the mail out.
It’s been a pleasure to contribute in a small way to the efforts of Meaningful Ageing to bring about a better quality of life for aged persons.”
Thank you to both our volunteers, Rachael and Allen, and to our Office Administrator, Karen, for their support during this significant project.
Meaningful Ageing Australia has an orientation program for spiritual care in aged care available to our members; and implementation tools ready to go. Read more in our Member’s Zone.