The day she got the opportunity to study a health and frail care programme at Bergzicht Training and Development, 28-year old Amanda Houston from Eerste River immediately quit her job.

She had worked as a cashier at King Pie in Zevenwacht Mall, but her hard work and dedication saw her promoted to store manager not too long after. However, when her sister Vanessa Diedericks, who had studied at Bergzicht Training and Development, encouraged her to look at the programmes on offer at the organisation, Amanda was drawn to the health and frail care programme in particular.

“I chose frail care because I love working with elderly people. Since I’ve started working at Geluksoord, I have become more involved in the lives of the elderly and they have become like my own parents,” she says.

“I’m also a very patient person, which is very important in this industry,” Amanda adds.

Before studying the HWSETA-accredited Health and Frail Care Programme at Bergzicht Training and Development, Amanda had enrolled for a Management Assistant course at Boland College. Her studies were funded with a bursary, however, by the time she realised the course did not interest her, she was unable to change to another course and retain her bursary.

“We didn’t have the money for me to choose to study something else,” she explains.

When she decided to study health and frail care, Vanessa, as well as her mom and dad encouraged her to do so. As soon as the programme ended, Amanda started sending her CV to various old age homes to find a job.

“A week after I sent out my CV, the head nurse at Geluksoord called me to ask if I could help them out on a temporary basis while one of the nursing staff was on maternity leave. I had been working there for three weeks when the head nurse told me that she thought that I was a hard worker and that Geluksoord would like to offer me a permanent job.”

It is clear that Amanda is thriving at Geluksoord.

“The thing I love the most about my work is when one of the elderly people thank me for something I did for them. It makes me feel good to know that I am doing my job well and that they can see that I care for them as people. That is what gets me through on the tough days.”

“It’s also why you have to come to work in the right frame of mind. People can pick up when you are in a bad mood and it affects them too. On days like that, I ask God to give me strength for the day.”

Working with the elderly, Amanda’s dad, who passed away in February this year is always top of mind.

“It is tough at times, but I know we will get through it.”

She says that she has been drawing on a lot of the skills that she learnt during her programme at Bergzicht Training and Development, because it has proven extremely useful in her job. This includes how to move a wheelchair bound person from their wheelchair to their bed and back again and how to wash a frail person in the shower or a bedridden person in their bed.

“If I think back on it all, Bergzicht Training and Development really made a big impact on my life. They give you opportunities, but it is all up to you what you do with those opportunities. I won’t forget when Ingrid [Andrews from Bergzicht Training and Development] told us about the health and frail care programme, and said: ‘You can do anything you want to do. It all depends on you’.”

Photo: Health and Frail Care alumnus Amanda Houston has been working as a carer at Geluksoord, an old age home in Stellenbosch, for just over a year. (Lynne Rippenaar-Moses)