If you were paying close attention to the Royal Commission this year, you might remember the story of the HammondCare worker who walked 6km after her car had broken down, just so she could provide one of her clients with support.
Marlene Field says she didn’t do it for the “pat on the back”, arguing instead that it was her job to “put the client first” and that: “You should treat people like they belong to you.”
The incident occurred on 6 March, the height of the COVID pandemic.
Marlene’s client was in desperate need of home care, but as fate would have it this was the same afternoon that Marlene’s car decided to break down.
“It was about 5.50pm but I thought, ‘It’s not that far away’, so I rang Scheduling and asked them to contact Patricia’s son and let him know that I was on my way but I was on foot. I would worry about my car later,” Marlene says.
“I thought to myself, ‘it’s just around the corner and over that hill’ but as I got walking – and it was a hot day – I realised it may have been further than I imagined!”
When Marlene arrived, the son of her patient was deeply moved that she’d walked the whole way, but for Marlene this is just part of the job.
“I told him I didn’t mean to upset him, that it was fine, it’s what we do. Look, I’m not really someone to ask for a lot of help. It never occurred to me to ring Scheduling and ask them to send someone else.
“I’ve got two legs and I knew it was important that it was someone the family knew.”
You’ve got to applaud Marlene for going the extra mile there – well done.
