Home Instead would like to offer our biggest congratulations to Rosaleen Hoggard (Rose) for winning the National CAREGiver Of The Year 2017 Award.

Rose, from Home Instead (HISC) Bayside, Redlands and Logan Central, was nominated for her incredible example of the values and impact that a HISC CAREGiver can make on a person’s life.

Rose’s journey is a truly touching story. Her career as a HISC CAREGiver began after she moved from her hometown in South Africa to care for her daughter, who very sadly passed away after losing her battle to cancer. During this heart-breaking time, Rose was inspired by the palliative care nurses that helped care for her daughter, and in November 2013, this inspiration lead to Rose becoming a valued CAREGiver for HISC.

“I had become stronger than what I thought I was,” said Rose.

“I made up my mind that I was going do something to give back to the Australian people for what they did for my daughter,” she added.

Rose has been recognised for her extremely reliable, loyal and dependable nature as a CAREGiver, continuously providing high-quality care and earning the trust amongst clients, families and fellow CAREGivers.

HISC Bayside owner, Victoria Meyers, says no matter how resistant clients are to care, they can always guarantee Rose will connect with them and find a common ground. Rose is also known for singing, playing instruments and even dancing with her clients.

“She has a beautiful calm and confident manner that makes every client feel completely at ease,” Victoria said.

“Rose will research a client’s religion, culture or history before meeting for the first time. This proactive approach ensures a common ground or topic of conversation can be made at the first visit to make the client feels at ease,” she added.

Victoria says the impact Rose has on her clients, particularly dementia and palliative care clients, can only be measured through seeing the client smiles, the delight in their eyes and hearing their families’ gratitude.

Rose has provided over 2,969 hours of person centred care hours during her time as a CAREGiver. She is continuously engaged in the HISC training and encourages other CAREGivers to participate in training too. Rose is always the first to attend additional external training, including palliative care, hoist/equipment training, falls risks training, maintaining skin integrity and reducing pressure areas.

“I absolutely love my job in that it enables me to give all the empathy, compassion and knowledge of understanding needed, learnt through adversity, for caring for people,” Rose said.

“So, after nearly 4 years with HISC, I have achieved what I wanted to do – make a difference in the life of a person who really needs me,” Rose added.