Have you met Louise?

Louise is one of our wonderful drivers, and much like her job role, she is prefers to be always on the go with her many interests and talents.

Read below to learn more about Louise.

What is your position at RangeCare?

I'm a driver

What does your position involve?

My position involves at the moment, I drive the bus, I only work three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. I drive the little bus we have, it's a 10 seater or something, and I pick up people and bring them into the Centre for games and what not, like they do, and then take them home in the afternoon.

How long have you been with RangeCare?

It's coming up to 2 years now, which is one of the longest periods of time I would have had a "normal job".

How did you first learn about RangeCare?

I had a friend who worked with RangeCare and I'd not long come back from overseas in 2019, and she said "just apply to RangeCare!", and I said "what as?". Well, anything. So I made up a resume and she took it and gave it to [HR]. I didn't hear anything and I thought oh well never mind. Then I got a phone call out of the blue asking if I'd like a driving job and I went "yes!!", because I actually enjoy driving.

How would you describe RangeCare?

I've found it really good to work for because as a driver I'm kind of autonomous in a way and I just have to keep a note of my case and times. It's very simple, it's very easy. I mean, sometimes it can be a bit frantic driving about and trying to get someone from here to there, then get someone else and fit them all in. There's not a lot of pressure for me personally because I don't really stress about too much!

What is the most inspiring part of your role?

I think chatting to the clients because I learnt so many things about their life. You're driving along on a long-ish drive and they tell you about their life story often, or I tell them mine, so I get all this conversation which I really love. I've heard from quite a few clients who've come over here after the Second World War, and had escaped from Germany or Poland or where ever. Some of the stories they tell are very touching, and reminds me of how fortunate I've been in my life not to have ever had anything like that happen to me.

What is a challenge in your role?

Hoping my car won't let me down cause it's a bit old! I go on a wing and a prayer cause it's a bit old but she's still doing it. And it's a pressure trying to keep it clean because I'm not naturally a very clean car person.

Do you have a favourite memory working at RangeCare?

Yes I do actually! The day they let me drive the bus up to the Flaxton office when it was Melbourne Cup last year and I had the BEST day! I was allowed to dress up and we had lunch up there, and normally I get to drive people and drop them off and I go do something else, but I actually got to spend the whole day with the clients and that was fun.

What was your first job?

I was a yoga and meditation teacher when I was about 19 or 20, I started doing yoga training and that sort of thing and I ended up becoming a teacher, so that was my first job. Apart from jobs when I was at school washing dishes in hotels because I grew up in a seaside town, so I used to do small jobs like that, but my first "proper job" was teaching yoga.

What is a fun fact about you?

Well there's probably two fun facts, actually. One fun fact is that I was a professional opera singer for 25 years, so that's quite a fun fact. People always say "Oooh! You don't meet many of those do you?" and I used so say "Well actually, I've met loads of them!" haha. I knew lots, I still do know lots. I've taught singing as well as that but I don't really enjoy teaching singing.

The other fun fact is I've always through my life apart from jobs and things I've done I've always been on a more spiritual path you might say, and so I've written a book about that. It's called The Idiot's Guide to Magic, and that's not calling everyone else idiots, the idiot is me, and if I can get it anyone can. That's the premise of the title. Basically I've studied all sorts of different things throughout my life and done training courses and read loads of books, put things together and had different teachers along the way. I put that all together. Now what I actually do is I also coach people, that's my other job. I coach people online, I would call it 'Intuitive Life Coaching' and most of my clients at present are in the UK, but I would like more here at some point. So I put together this book which kind of talks about where I started, where I was brought up, what got me into it, and I've sort of woven my life in amongst the work that I actually teach and the concepts. It's like a bit oh a 'how to' book, how you can put those things into practice yourself.

Do you have a hobby?

I still love music, so people ask me to sing at parties and I do, I just do it because it's fun. I like kayaking but at the moment I don't have one. I also like horse riding but haven't done much of it recently, but I grew up riding horses. I do a lot of oil painting and I've got loads of paintings all over my house that I'm half way through or I think I might be finished.

Would you recommend working at RangeCare?

I would. For me it's like I wanted to find a part time job that, because I spent a lot of time solitarily at home, I wanted to get out and about and meet people and talk to people. Otherwise I could be in my home for days and nights on end by myself. I also wanted to do something that contributed to the community. It's important to me to try and give to people, so I think if you're that way inclined, and you enjoy communicating and interacting with all sorts of different people, then yeah it would be good.