Today we are excited to introduce Yilmaz, who is our Lifestyle officer at Esida and has been with us for 21 years! He has his certificate 4 and I sat down with him to gain an insight into the lifestyle role and how he came to be with Vacenti.

His mum was the inspiration behind him wanting to be a part of the aged care industry therefore he decided to give it a go as a volunteer which led to a paid role. He loved it so much that he is still here with us, also part of the reason is because of the amazing teamwork that he has experienced in the Lifestyle Department.

Yilmaz explained that it is an extremely rewarding job where you welcome not only residents but their families into the facility, who can be worried and overwhelmed about the process. The best part of the job is having the ability to walk beside all the people involved in the transition into a new environment by caring for them in the best possible way.

His favourite moments during his 21 years at Esida include meeting people and creating relationships. He is happy at Vacenti, loves his job and is very settled into the Lifestyle Officer role, he is always open to learning as there is always something new to learn.

A significant experience for Yilmaz at Vacenti involved bottled water being thrown out, he came up with the idea to build a program to collect bottles and recycle them, in turn, the money generated has come back to the Lifestyle Department. After speaking to management this idea has now grown and expanded to all our facilities. Vacenti listens to staff and implements new ideas which also assist in our company’s sustainability program.

Yilmaz spoke with me at length about there being more to the job and more than just delivering a program of activities, it comes down to the trust you build where the residents feel they can talk and have been heard, they receive support and they know that those people around them, really know who they are.