WA Not For Profit aged care provider Capecare has welcomed four new carers from the Pacific Islands thanks to its partnership with HealthX and the Federal Government’s Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.
Tabeta Itioa (Beta), Akineti Tiotaake (Aggie), Kaekotaake Natibu (Kaeko) and Tuane Neemia (Tuane) have joined Capecare from Kiribati, a group of 33 small coral islands in the central Pacific.
For the first 10 weeks at Capecare, the staff will continue to complete their Certificate III in Individual Support (Ageing) and then join the team as carers.
This is Capecare’s second intake of carers under the PALM scheme. An initial group of carers from Fiji arrived in 2022, and with the latest additions brings the total to 13 carers.
Capecare Acting CEO Philippa Ayre said the program had been extremely successful and made a significant difference to Capecare, which is the largest regionally based indepedant aged care provider in WA, in building a sustainable workforce.
“We have been so fortunate to have Beta, Aggie, Kaeko and Tuane join Capecare, they have seamlessly become part of the team and our residents already love them,” Philippa said.
HealthX is an approved employer of the PALM scheme for aged care. They source, interview, sponsor and employ Pacific Island workers to work in aged care facilities across Australia.
HealthX has brought 340 fully qualified HealthX PALM carers with Certificate III Individual Support (Ageing) to work in aged care facilities across Australia so far.
They currently have 26 HealthX PALM student carers in Australia completing the final stages of their Cert III training and 10 HealthX PALM student carers undertaking a two-week intensive residential training course, prior to moving to the designated host facility to complete training and remain as full-time employees.
By June 2024, HealthX plans to have another 250 PALM students trained and employed under the PALM ACE program in Australia.
The SOURCE: The PALM scheme has successfully brought aged care workers into Australia to help fill workforce gaps.
