Community Aged Care Support Workers
Provide general household assistance, emotional support, and direct person-centred care for older people residing in their own homes.
Three visits before lunch
You are a community aged care support worker doing home visits, with three clients booked between eight and noon. It is 8am and your first client is Mr Aziz. His care plan says he should have help with his shower and a short walk, but he has made it clear he thinks he does not need either.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I have showered by myself for seventy years. I do not need you standing outside the door and I do not want a walk today. Why can't you just make me a cup of tea and sit and chat? That is what I actually like.
Listen, offer some choices within the plan, and note what he preferred in the visit record
He chooses a short walk after the tea, and a safer set-up for the shower that he runs himself. You tell the coordinator, who updates the plan. He feels more in control, and you stay within the rules.
Make the tea and chat, and quietly tick off the visit as done without mentioning the shower
The visit is pleasant, but the record says something that did not happen. If something goes wrong later, nobody knows. Writing down what was not done is part of the job.
Insist on the plan exactly as written, since it is what the coordinator has set up
Mr Aziz goes along, but he feels bossed about in his own home. He is withdrawn for the rest of the visit. The plan was followed, and the person was lost.
I know you are with Dad now. Can you tell me how he really is? He says everything is fine, but he always says that. Please, don't tell him I asked. I just need to know the truth.
Tell her what you have seen in the home, because she is his daughter and she is worried
Hana is reassured, but Mr Aziz later finds out and feels betrayed. You shared private information about him without his permission. A good motive does not change whose information it is.
Say you cannot discuss clients with anyone, and hang up quickly
You protected his privacy, but Hana is left more frightened than before. A kinder answer would have kept the rules and still shown that you heard her.
Explain what you can share, and offer to pass her call to your coordinator
Hana understands and thanks you. The coordinator rings back with Mr Aziz's agreement and arranges a family conversation. His privacy and her worry are both treated fairly.
You are such a love. Here, take this envelope. It is just a little something for all you do. And while you are going to the shop, could you also pop into the bank and take out some cash for me? I trust you.
Take the envelope to avoid hurting her, and offer to do the bank errand once, as a favour
Later, a relative questions the money and the service investigates. You did nothing wrong in your heart, but you have put yourself in a difficult spot. Gifts and money are rules for good reasons.
Decline kindly, explain your service's rules, and offer to help her arrange the bank another way
She understands and says she did not want to cause trouble. You tell the coordinator, who arranges a family member or a trusted option. She feels cared for and protected.
Thank her warmly, decline the envelope, and say you cannot handle her money or visit the bank
Mrs Kowalski is hurt and says she was only being kind. The boundary is firm but she feels rejected. You were right to hold it, and could have said it with more warmth.
How it went
By noon you had made tea, kept your records honest and protected two clients' privacy and finances. Home care is about respect, choice and boundaries in people's own homes, one visit at a time. Does that kind of one-to-one work sound like you?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The kettle left on
A fictional case set in the homes of older people across a suburb, visited one after another in a small car.
The situation
Aroha was a community aged care support worker who visited Mr Hendry, a retired mechanic of eighty-one, three mornings a week. On her Thursday visit she found the stove burner on with nothing on it and the kettle empty and scorched on the bench. Mr Hendry was cheerful and said he must have forgotten. He asked her not to tell his daughter because she would only worry and make him move.
What they did
Aroha turned off the stove, sat down and spoke to him kindly. She told him she cared about him and could not keep this secret. She explained that she would let her coordinator know, and that she would do it with him, not behind his back. She asked what he wanted the coordinator to hear. Then she rang the coordinator in front of him and described what had happened.
How it turned out
The coordinator arranged a review that included Mr Hendry, his daughter and his doctor. He stayed in his home, with a kettle that switches itself off and a visit each evening. He was cross with Aroha for a week and then went back to joking with her about her driving.
What would you do?
- Why do you think Aroha rang the coordinator in front of him?
- When is it right to break a promise to keep a secret?
- How would you want to be treated if you were in Mr Hendry's place?