“I love what I do. It’s such a privilege to serve the community in this way”, says Donna Wahrlich. She’s the community eldercare worker at St Christopher’s in Blenheim. We sat down over coffee and spent some time chatting about the joys and challenges of her role.
Donna: I’ve done a number of interesting things over my career. I trained as a make-up artist with TVNZ. I’ve run my own business. I’ve spent a number of years as a funeral director. Prior to starting at St Christopher’s, I was working in a caring role at a retirement home. These last two roles gave me plenty of experience working with older people, which I really enjoyed.
Then randomly, a job advertisement came up on my Facebook feed! I thought “That looks like a great job!”, applied for it straight away, and was fortunate enough to get offered the job. That was three years ago, and I’ve been doing this ever since, and absolutely loving it.
Donna: Companionship. Many older persons are lonely and feel disconnected. Many of our people have recently lost their spouse and are adjusting to life on their own.
They need a place where they will be seen, and welcomed, and smiled at, and chatted to. People need to feel valued.
There is also a growing need around health and wellbeing. Accessing health services can be an issue, along with people needing to become more active to sustain mobility and recover from ailments or accidents. There are seniors who have come to us because they’ve been referred by physios and other local health agencies.
Donna: Our main goal is to meet the needs of connection and belonging, but many of the things we do also help meet needs in the health and wellbeing space.
We run four exercise and movement programmes each week. Two of these are identical Steady As You Go (SAYGo) programmes. This is a well-known falls prevention exercise programme designed to improve balance, leg strength, and flexibility for older adults. We were doing one SAYGo programme each week, but that got too full so we have started providing a second programme, which is growing steadily. We also run a weekly Stretch and Breath class, and a weekly walking group. These all come with a post-match cuppa and fellowship opportunities.
On the fourth Thursday of each month, we host an Older Persons Seminar covering a range of topics, including health, safety, community resources, travel stories and more. And, of course, a yearly Christmas event with plenty of fun and treats.
Donna: I have an amazing team of volunteers that makes these programmes possible. I couldn’t do it without them. They’re the best! Some of the volunteers have been trained to lead SAYGo programmes so I don’t need to be there for every programme. And they do a great job.
I also attend local networking meetings with other older persons/social services agencies. This allows other industry workers to know about what we do and send people our way. Of equal importance, as I become more aware of the services available in the community, I can point our older folk towards the services they need.
Donna: The most encouraging thing is seeing our members happy and connected, and enjoying life. Where we can, we try to give our seniors helping roles.
We had one older person referred to us by a local social service agency. They told me to be careful as she had been banned from other organisations due to poor behaviour. She felt very welcomed at our programmes, so she started coming more regularly. There’s been the occasional time when she’s been a bit challenging, but because of the strong relationship I was able to pull her aside and chat to her about her behaviour and draw her back in again. For her, St Christopher’s is her second home. Seeing the transformation in her has been particularly rewarding.
It’s also encouraging to see people getting healthier and learning. For instance, we offer regular Falls Prevention workshops. I was encouraged to hear of some of our seniors who avoided significant injury by practicing some of the principles they heard about at one of these workshops.
The most challenging part of the role is how to present the Christian component of what we do without putting people off. I want people to hear about Jesus, but I don’t want them to stop coming. Getting the balance right can be challenging sometimes.
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series below.
More articles in the
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We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
“I love what I do. It’s such a privilege to serve the community in this way”, says Donna Wahrlich. She’s the community eldercare worker at St Christopher’s in Blenheim. We sat down over coffee and spent some time chatting about the joys and challenges of her role.
Donna: I’ve done a number of interesting things over my career. I trained as a make-up artist with TVNZ. I’ve run my own business. I’ve spent a number of years as a funeral director. Prior to starting at St Christopher’s, I was working in a caring role at a retirement home. These last two roles gave me plenty of experience working with older people, which I really enjoyed.
Then randomly, a job advertisement came up on my Facebook feed! I thought “That looks like a great job!”, applied for it straight away, and was fortunate enough to get offered the job. That was three years ago, and I’ve been doing this ever since, and absolutely loving it.
Donna: Companionship. Many older persons are lonely and feel disconnected. Many of our people have recently lost their spouse and are adjusting to life on their own.
They need a place where they will be seen, and welcomed, and smiled at, and chatted to. People need to feel valued.
There is also a growing need around health and wellbeing. Accessing health services can be an issue, along with people needing to become more active to sustain mobility and recover from ailments or accidents. There are seniors who have come to us because they’ve been referred by physios and other local health agencies.
Donna: Our main goal is to meet the needs of connection and belonging, but many of the things we do also help meet needs in the health and wellbeing space.
We run four exercise and movement programmes each week. Two of these are identical Steady As You Go (SAYGo) programmes. This is a well-known falls prevention exercise programme designed to improve balance, leg strength, and flexibility for older adults. We were doing one SAYGo programme each week, but that got too full so we have started providing a second programme, which is growing steadily. We also run a weekly Stretch and Breath class, and a weekly walking group. These all come with a post-match cuppa and fellowship opportunities.
On the fourth Thursday of each month, we host an Older Persons Seminar covering a range of topics, including health, safety, community resources, travel stories and more. And, of course, a yearly Christmas event with plenty of fun and treats.
Donna: I have an amazing team of volunteers that makes these programmes possible. I couldn’t do it without them. They’re the best! Some of the volunteers have been trained to lead SAYGo programmes so I don’t need to be there for every programme. And they do a great job.
I also attend local networking meetings with other older persons/social services agencies. This allows other industry workers to know about what we do and send people our way. Of equal importance, as I become more aware of the services available in the community, I can point our older folk towards the services they need.
Donna: The most encouraging thing is seeing our members happy and connected, and enjoying life. Where we can, we try to give our seniors helping roles.
We had one older person referred to us by a local social service agency. They told me to be careful as she had been banned from other organisations due to poor behaviour. She felt very welcomed at our programmes, so she started coming more regularly. There’s been the occasional time when she’s been a bit challenging, but because of the strong relationship I was able to pull her aside and chat to her about her behaviour and draw her back in again. For her, St Christopher’s is her second home. Seeing the transformation in her has been particularly rewarding.
It’s also encouraging to see people getting healthier and learning. For instance, we offer regular Falls Prevention workshops. I was encouraged to hear of some of our seniors who avoided significant injury by practicing some of the principles they heard about at one of these workshops.
The most challenging part of the role is how to present the Christian component of what we do without putting people off. I want people to hear about Jesus, but I don’t want them to stop coming. Getting the balance right can be challenging sometimes.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
