“I love what I do and I do what I love”: Karen’s passion for being a personal carer

While she currently juggles both in-home and residential care roles, it’s clear that her preference sits with the in-home care she provides to her Spanish-speaking clients. “[Going into] their homes is better, because, you get to know them, you get to know their routine better. Also, the culture, you know, I look after all Spanish people, so they feel more comfortable with me. And also me with them, because I know their background.”

Originally from Chile, Karen says the matching of culture and language between worker and client is an important value add. “It’s the cultural experience, right? This cultural experience you can already see ahead of time. How someone may want something or what they might want because that’s familiar to you.” She says, “culture and language are two things that if we can match those, it means that you are able to know ahead of time; you are able to assist in a way that someone else from a different culture could come in and not have any understanding.”

Spending the time to get to know and understand her clients is also an essential part of the job. “I make sure every time I get someone new, I make sure I read [their history]. Because I have to know how to treat that person. How to look after that person better. And where they’ve been or what they’ve done, if they’ve had kids, what signals so I know how to approach the person … that’s important.”

She is also passionate about showing her clients the respect she believes they deserve. “These people now, it was us back then. They’ve done so much. And they’ve done their bit, you know, now it is time for us to look after them.” She says she treats her clients in a way that she’d like to be treated or how she’d like her own parents to be cared for. “I respect them. I’m going into their home. I have to respect them.”