Lauren's wellness goal at Glengara Care

“My job is to keep people happy,” says Lauren Winstanley, Diversional Therapist at Glengara Care, which is part of Glengara Retirement Village on the NSW Central Coast. With a sea of smiles across residents’ faces, it’s clear that Lauren is doing her job very well!

Lauren has worked at Glengara Care since 2020 and in that time has formed a close bond with each and every resident, who are all like family to her. Her role is to ensure residents have access to activities that improve their wellbeing, whether that’s mental wellbeing, physical wellbeing or simply keeping residents socially connected. Walking through Glengara Care you’ll see residents enjoying a range of activities from drumming and mini golf to whiteboard quizzes and bingo.

“I provide mainly lifestyle activities to keep people connected socially. For those that aren’t really interested in social connection, I try and find them something to do to keep them mentally stimulated on their own,” says Lauren.

Set in Glengara Retirement Village, Glengara Care features care apartments that are supported 24 hours a day by a nurse-led team, but still have all the comforts of home. The residents have the freedom to live life on their terms and not to a timetable. Unlike aged care facilities, couples can live together even if only one of them needs care and support.

Igniting residents’ passions

Lauren does a lot more than simply organise activities, she spends time getting to know the residents one on one, so that she can discover what their needs and wants are. She ensures that residents fill their day with things that inspire them and ignites their passions. Whether that’s helping a resident rediscover their love of art, share their inspiring stories with others or get them back into physical activity.

“I love seeing residents achieve things that they didn’t think that they could achieve before,” Lauren explains. “For instance, I worked with a lady who I took swimming last year. She has Parkinson’s Disease and her mobility improved out of sight when we started swimming once a week. I love helping residents to achieve things they don’t think they can do or even reintroducing old skills that they may not have done for a long time.”

Residents love what Lauren offers and really appreciate the effort she puts in to improving their quality of life. One such resident is Elly, who says that Lauren is key to making her life full and enjoyable at Glengara Care.

“When I came here and met Lauren, I was amazed,” says Elly. “I’m just in awe of Lauren and how well she does at keeping us all involved.”

An inspired change

Before starting her career in aged care, Lauren had worked as a graphic designer in the newspaper industry for around 35 years. When she was offered redundancy in 2013, it was a chance for Lauren to start a new journey in her working life.

“The reason I got into this type of work was because I was inspired when my grandmother went into an aged care facility on the Central Coast,” Lauren says. “I loved watching the lifestyle staff there, the way they interacted with the residents. So that’s where the idea for a career change came from.”

Since then, Lauren has built her career helping older people, and coming to Glengara Care in 2020 she loves the challenges and funny moments it provides her.

“It’s the most rewarding job, I’ve ever had,” she says.

Something for everyone

Lauren’s main consideration is ensuring residents are involved and active as they can be, which is not always easy when you have a diverse range of people to cater for. Despite this, Lauren takes a great deal of care and effort to engage all the residents and keep them doing things they enjoy.

“Everyone’s different and I’m always trying to accommodate different behaviours, likes and dislikes. That is the biggest challenge,” says Lauren.

Lauren must be doing something right as smiles and laughter follow her wherever she goes at Glengara Care.

“I was doing a whiteboard quiz down in the lounge room one day, and the residents had to give me 3 examples of things that you shouldn’t touch. One lady said a hot plate. Another one said an electric fence, and the third one said: ‘other women’s husbands’. Everybody that could hear her laughed,” says Lauren. “Some of the things that residents come out with just crack me up.”

Wellbeing starts at home

Away from Glengara Care, Lauren has a full life of her own, as she knows how important it is to fill her own wellbeing cup so that she can fill that of the residents. Her pasttimes include doing crafts, walking her dog and watching her beloved West Tigers NRL team.

“I’m creative and I like to do craft. I walk my Jack Russell terrier, weather permitting. He’s not happy this morning cause it’s raining here, so we didn’t get a walk. I like to swim. I live near the beach, so I love swimming,” says Lauren. “I’m an avid NRL fan. So, I do go down to Leichhardt Oval and watch the West Tigers when they play at home.”

See what Lauren and the dedicated team at Glengara Care do each day for residents.