TALK about a crowded house.
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When Diane Hyder was growing up at Ballimore, east of Dubbo, the family home had one bedroom, no bathroom and no laundry – and there were 13 kids.
So was it hard to make them all fit?
“It was easy,” Ms Hyder remembered. “Mum used to have three cots in her room. And we had two brothers out on the verandah part. And then the rest of us were all in bunks in a loungeroom part.”
The Whiddon Kelso nurse adores her job and is an enthusiastic advocate for working in an aged care home, but it took her most of her life to find her calling.
READ MORE: Residents’ works on show at Whiddon Kelso
She left home when she was “not quite 17” and came to St Vincent's Hospital at Bathurst to train as a nurse for nearly two years, which she “absolutely loved”.
“I liked caring about people,” she said. “You’d get somebody in who was so ill and then you’d see them rehabilitate and leave and go home.”
But her life took a detour from that point as she worked at a printing company in Russell Street and then, just before she got married, at a local plastics company that made dog bowls, cat bowls and make-up kits.
The business was later lost to fire.
“Then I started at what used to be Edgells [now Simplot],” Ms Hyder said. “My son was a baby then.
“I started there in 1983. I was a quality technician. I did all the grading with the corn.”
After a bad accident involving her foot, and taking a redundancy in 2014, Ms Hyder’s aged care journey began.
“It took two years to get a clearance on my foot,” she said. “We didn’t think I’d be able to even walk again.
“I’m a great believer that, with determination and willpower, you can do anything.
“I came here [Whiddon Kelso] and applied for a job in June 2016 - just a couple of days after I turned 58.
“And I have not stopped since.
“I honestly think that my having the accident with my foot, and it taking two years to recover, that this was meant to happen.”
Ms Hyder says she would have loved to care for her late mother, but didn’t have the chance to do so.
“I wish I had the opportunity with Mum.
“With some of the ladies [at Whiddon], I enjoy mixing and matching their clothes. Some of them remind me of my mum.”
She says she knew she wanted to work in an aged care home, rather than do home care, but understands it is not a job for everyone.
“To get into this industry, you’ve really got to be a special person – you’ve got to be able to cope with the ups and downs.
To get into this industry, you’ve really got to be a special person – you’ve got to be able to cope with the ups and downs.
“If you are only here for the money, forget about it.
“I’m a great believer, too, that if you have a bad day, always think that tomorrow’s going to be better.”
She prides herself on coming in early every day and treating everyone at the centre with respect and kindness.
“If that had been my mum or dad, I would have wanted the best for them,” she said. “They are here for a reason and they should be looked after.”
She says she will be at Whiddon Kelso for a while yet (“I’ll work until I’m 70-plus”) and feels lucky to have found her calling – even if it did take a little while.
“To go from a big food company - for 31 years I was at that food company,” she said.
“And you know what? I don't miss it. I don't miss the cold concrete floors. I come out here and it’s so much warmer. I'm not wearing heavy boots, big, thick jackets, earmuffs.
“Where one door closes, one will open.”
