Lithgow staff attend TAFE graduation ceremony for Communication course

The staff have spent the past 10 weeks with Lithgow TAFE studying Communication in the Workplace and were recognised at a graduation ceremony on Friday, September 27.

The staff members presented a slideshow on the new aged care standards and how workers view them to some of the residents of Three Tree Lodge before they received their certificates from Bathurst MP Paul Toole.

Graduate, Bethany Fairburn said that she learnt different ways to communicate.

"It was really interesting to learn the different views that people had and the way two different organisations do things," she said.

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Head chef at Lithgow Aged Care Cooinda, Sue Smith said that the technology lessons were very helpful.

"I wasn't very computer literate but now after doing this course I'm not as scared of them, and would look forward to doing more courses on it," she said.

"It really gave you a chance to learn something new, so with the kitchens it helped me with how I would organise and run functions."

Chair of Three Tree Lodge board, Garry Brown said that enabling training could be difficult and challenging to fit into your lives but he was thankful for the commitment the staff members had made.

"As a director I know how important supporting our staff to participate in education is, as more knowledgeable and confident staff leads to innovation and ultimately better care for our residents," he said.

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"Hopefully for some this will be the beginning of further education and training as learning is a lifetime experience.

"I would like to thank all the staff at TAFE NSW for their efforts and to NSW Government TAFE for funding the training. We look forward to working with TAFE in the coming months for ongoing training opportunities."

Three Tree Lodge CEO Kate Hurrell said that she hoped the joint initiative was just the beginning.

"I would love to expand the program, but today is important just to celebrate our staff's education successes," she said.

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MP Paul Toole congratulated the staff members and said that this should give comfort to wider family members that their relatives are being taken care of.

"You can have a fantastic facility but unless you have quality staff to look after your residents you wont succeed," he said.

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