Katherine Jones never planned on becoming a community care nurse, but when an unexpected opportunity arrived she didn’t miss the chance to pursue her dream job.
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At the age of 30, Katherine, who had always wanted a career in nursing, graduated from the Australian Catholic University as a registered nurse. Her first position after graduating was in a gastrointestinal ward, a hectic place that could be difficult at times with seriously ill patients.
As part of her training her next position was to be in oncology, but when Katherine discovered she was pregnant, she transferred to nursing in community care.
“It was just nice to see people outside of a clinical setting and help them in their homes. I just loved it immediately”, Katherine said.
Katherine also had the opportunity to learn more about wound care, spending time with wound practitioners in Canberra and become familiar with the different products, which included often unexpected materials such as honey, gold and seaweed.
“That’s my passion”, she said, “I love seeing that process of wounds healing”.
In 2015, Katherine had the opportunity to move back to her home town of Port Macquarie with her young son and husband, after he received a transfer for work.
Not only did she now have the benefit of living close to her family, who double as great baby-sitters, but Katherine was lucky enough to fall into the perfect job with Catholic Care of the Aged, a service of St Agnes’ Parish, bringing her even closer to family.
“My sister-in-law is a community nurse with Catholic Care of the Aged and heard they were looking for an RN in community care”, she explained. “I called them and the next day I had an interview. A few weeks later, I started the job”.
Katherine’s role involves providing nursing care specifically to Department of Veterans’ Affairs members. She has recently established this service, within CCA Community Care, to involve all kinds of nursing care from catheter care to health monitoring.
“I enjoy working with Catholic Care of the Aged. Although they are the largest provider of aged care in the region, their values still align to my own family life, so I feel a strong personal connection to my work”.
Katherine’s looking forward to building new relationships with clients and supporting them to continue to live the life they want.
