Starting from the ground up
Chris Armon has a clear vision for the new home care office in the Grampians.
“The sky is the limit,” says the Project Manager for Grampians Home Care. “The bigger the better. I want us to be second to none in the regions.”
It is this drive that makes her so determined to succeed, even though she is starting from the ground up.
Uniting AgeWell currently has 11 clients on home care packages in the area and Chris is brokering services to provide their care. “You’ve got to start somewhere,” she says cheerfully.
Her first step, with support from Meagan Thomas (Director Regional Victoria Home Care) and Andy Burns (Project Officer, Corporate), will be to find suitable office space in Ballarat with accessible street frontage. Chris is hugely appreciative of their help and is confident they will find a great site in the near future.
Meagan says there is a huge demand for high-quality home care in the Grampians - she is looking forward to Uniting AgeWell being a commanding presence in the region.
Next steps will be to recruit staff and then to attract more clients. “It’s a delicate balancing act,” Chris explains. “It’s a case of getting enough staff to service client needs and then growing the client base.”
She is looking for the right person for the job. “Kindness plays a huge factor in hiring anyone. They need to have the same values as Uniting AgeWell and they need to be doers. People who have a passion for the role and who want to be there.”
Searching for premises is a two-pronged mission. Chris is based in Inglewood and is looking for somewhere to live in the Ballarat area. No easy feat, considering she has a household of four horses, a 20-year-old cat called Missy Moo and her husband, Issy.
Ballarat also holds another huge attraction for Chris. Her only son and his family, including her two grandsons, live there.
Chris has been in this role since August last year. She joined Uniting AgeWell in 2021, first as a Care Advisor and then, as her talents quickly became known, as acting Program Manager in Mildura and Wangaratta.
“I’m here for the long haul,” she laughs. “I’m happy and I’m not going anywhere!”
© 2021