About Our Team
As a family-owned home care company, The CareSide sprouted from entrepreneurial roots in 2017 with a simple goal: deliver the best home care in Australia at the most affordable prices. Today, we’re a national provider with an ever-growing care footprint, supported by a team of diverse, mission-driven professionals who are sincerely passionate about providing the highest quality care possible.
Janina Dickerson is one of those professionals. At just 16 years old, Janina completed her Certificates II, III, and IV in aged care and began working as a carer in residential facilities. During that time, she witnessed firsthand how many older people quickly decline after they move from their homes into residential care. That realisation inspired Janina to pursue a career in home care—she wanted the opportunity to help seniors before that decline. Eventually, Janina found her way to The CareSide, where she started as a Care Manager and soon earned a promotion to her current role as Regional Manager. Read on to learn more about Janina and her work at The CareSide.
Share a bit about yourself. What’s your story, and what brought you to the home care industry?
Janina: I’m a registered nurse, and I got into health care and aged care at a young age. I always knew I wanted to do nursing, so I talked to my Career Pathways Officer at school to find out how to build my skills as quickly as possible whilst transitioning into university. I completed Certificates II, III, and IV in aged care at TAFE whilst still at school, then entered into residential aged care as a carer at 16 years old. That allowed me to build up my skills, and I found a passion working with elderly people.
But I also recognised that a lot of older people deteriorated and declined quickly when they moved from their homes into residential facilities. So I knew residential aged care wasn’t quite right for me, and I wanted to have a positive impact on older people before they entered residential care. I continued with registered nursing and moved into primary health care as a practice nurse to build my clinical skills whilst keeping a footprint in elderly and community care. Then, I moved into the home care world.
Why did you join The CareSide?
Janina: My story with The CareSide started eight years ago when the company began. I had just graduated from university, and it was during a job freeze, so there were limited positions available for graduate nurses. I had to think outside the box and saw an ad from The CareSide for a community care nursing role, which I was always passionate about. I applied for the job, met with the co-founder, Emily, and was successful in that position. However, The CareSide was a brand new company at the time, and there weren’t many hours other than blood pressure checks and care assessments.
Since I was still new to nursing, I spoke with Emily and she told me, ‘Go out, build up your skills, keep an eye on The CareSide, and if you ever want to return, please do.’ And that’s what I did. I completed my grad program as a practice nurse and built up my skills, and I also built up medical centres as a lead nurse. [In that role], I met with many medical centres and ensured they met their targets. I kept an eye on The CareSide and five years later, I reached out to Emily and said, ‘Look, I’ve built up my skills and this is my skillset now—do you have any positions available?’ She told me about the Care Manager role, and that’s where I started before working my way up to Regional Manager.
What’s your favourite part about being a Regional Manager? What’s the most challenging part?
Janina: My favourite part is working with our team of Care Managers. They are all very dedicated, and to see the positive impact they’re making in our clients’ lives is truly rewarding. Being a Regional Manager fits well with my nursing background: I still have to provide my clinical input, but I love managing a team. I enjoy learning about the operations, finding gaps in our processes, and implementing new pathways so we can hit our targets. It’s also rewarding to hear how positive our clients are. They often come [to The CareSide] from different providers where they’re not getting enough hours and don’t have any continuity of care. Watching our Care Managers identify those issues and put things in place so our clients can meet their care needs holistically is very rewarding.
As much as I absolutely love managing a team, it’s also challenging. I have to understand how everyone ticks—I have to understand the challenges they’re experiencing personally and professionally and provide the support they need. That can be taxing at times. Something that works for one Care Manager may not work for another, and I have to work out the best way to manage in that space.
There’s also the challenge of the Home Care Package ceiling. Meeting the Aged Care Safety and Quality Commission compliance regulations while also trying to meet clients’ needs—it can come to loggerheads, so that can be difficult.
What does a typical workday look like for you?
Janina: Meetings! Meetings from morning to afternoon. I start my day by checking in with my team. Anything that I need to address from the morning, or if something came up the previous evening, I address those topics with my team so they’re in the loop. I check my voicemails, emails, and the messages in our team chat, and then I move into my scheduled meetings. It’s all about managing issues, problem-solving, implementing new processes, and finding gaps. It’s a busy role, but I thoroughly enjoy it.
In a perfect world, what does the future of home care look like?
Janina: Well, I know with the Support at Home program, there will be increased funding for care recipients with higher needs. I think that’s going to have a really positive impact.
I see a lot of clients with high-care needs reach that ceiling of Home Care Packages, and they can’t privately fund [their care]. So they have to go into residential care. And we hear the stories of them moving into residential care and declining quickly—and then we get updates they’ve passed away. That’s heartbreaking for us. We build such a strong rapport with our clients. So if there could be further funding for those high-needs clients, that would be amazing. I think that would make the biggest impact, along with more funding for support care workers. They are in clients’ homes every day, and we’d be lost without them. Unfortunately, and it’s the same with nursing, there just isn’t enough recognition and funding to go around. So that would be my ideal world.
Do you have any inspiring or touching stories you can share from your time with The CareSide?
Janina: As a Regional Manager, I’ve been able to mentor Care Managers and watch them grow and get promoted into senior roles. I find that so rewarding. It’s fantastic to watch people thrive and excel in their roles, so I absolutely love that.
There’s one story that really sticks with me from my time as a Care Manager. It was a client we took on from another provider: he was bed-bound, and we were told he was a palliative care recipient and only had two months of life left. I went in as a Care Manager and met with the family. They were fatigued, stressed, and upset because their Dad wasn’t getting better. And I said, ‘Nope, this is not going to be the case—we’re going to get him better.’
We put services in place seven days a week because he had so much funding; his previous provider just didn’t educate him or his family on [all the services he was eligible for]. He went from being bed-bound with Stage 4 heel ulcers to being able to transition to his recliner chair, and he was a client of ours for two-and-a-half years. He has passed away since, but it was a beautiful way for him to go. We were supportive and had a beautiful relationship with his family, and even though I moved from Care Manager to Regional Manager [during that time], I still followed his story and supported his Care Managers. That’s been the most memorable story I’ve experienced during my time at The CareSide.
What are your feelings about that story, and the fact that his previous provider didn’t fully disclose how much funding he had for services?
Janina: I don’t understand it. My team and I genuinely get a kick out of hearing those positive stories. I think a lot of providers get so set on domestic assistance, and that is it. But we’re there to support clients’ quality of life—to find out what they enjoy doing. Did Roger used to love fishing with his mates? Let’s take him back fishing! Did Mary used to love going to the library? Let’s get her to the library! It really upsets me when we have clients who come to us with no quality of life because their previous provider didn’t get to know them.
What improvements or changes would you like to see in the home care industry?
Janina: For providers to really get to know their clients and their families. We are dealing with elderly people who used to be like you and me, and I think a lot of people forget that. If you sit and listen to them, they used to be Mums and Dads, they used to be successful business owners. Sometimes, home care is so goal-oriented to meet KPIs and compliance [regulations] that providers forget they’re working with people, so I think it needs to be brought back to a holistic approach.
If you weren’t a Regional Manager at The CareSide, what would you be up to?
Janina: That’s a really good question! I’ve thought about this and I struggle to find the answer, and I think that’s because I genuinely love my job. If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, then you’re looking elsewhere and fantasising about other things. I’m struggling to do that, I genuinely love my job. However, I think I’d probably move into education and community health, or possibly change it up and move into paediatrics since working with children is a big passion of mine.
What’s one thing you’d like everyone to know about Care Managers at The CareSide?
Janina: Hand on heart, I think our Care Managers are just phenomenal people. They go to work every day thinking about the wellbeing of their clients and how they can improve their lives. They are dedicated, kind, caring, and hard-working. I think a lot of the time, when people speak to Care Managers, they’re very frustrated with their situation, and that sentiment can sometimes get projected onto the Care Managers. Rather than Care Managers becoming frustrated themselves, they take it on board, review what’s going wrong and how we can help, and then put that in place. They are an absolutely beautiful team to work with.
Is that your favourite part about working at The CareSide?
Janina: Look, I’m a people person, and I get real joy from watching other people enjoy their lives. I love managing a team—I love my team and the positive impact they make on our clients’ lives. Because we care. We really do care.
When you’re not assisting home care recipients and their families, what are some things you enjoy outside of work?
Janina: I’m a very simple person. I enjoy family time. I enjoy going for walks, catching up with friends, and I sing—I’ve been in quite a few musical theatres, so that’s one of my passions. I also enjoy reading. I’m a quiet person!
