But she has not flinched in the slightest, stepping into the chief executive role at Shepparton Villages after the departure of Kerri Rivett, who had been at the helm eight years.
“I have always loved helping people and one of my very first jobs was working as a nursing assistant in an aged care home and I just loved it,” Ms Jamison said.
“It brought me a great deal of personal satisfaction.
“For me it’s something through all my roles from working on the floor of a nursing home through to being a CEO and board member, I have always had that overwhelming passion to help older people,” she said.
Ms Jamison has come to Shepparton from Melbourne where she was general manager of community health and care at Benetas and previously a Victoria and Tasmania general manager of national member support with peak aged care body Leading Age Services Australia.
She has also headed health organisations Bass Coast Health, Dianella Community Health and Boort District Health and said she was driven to ensure regional aged and health care be equal to that of its city counterparts.
Holding a Master of Human Resources Management, a Master of Business and Graduate Diploma of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Philosophy, Ms Jamison has dedicated the majority of her career to caring for the elderly.
“This is something I work very hard on; and one of the things I love about the positions I have been is the privilege to advocate for the best outcome for the community I serve,” she said.
“I grew up in the Hunter Valley so I am no stranger to working in regional locations; I much prefer it to being in the city.”
Having sat on the Shepparton Villages board since 2018, Ms Jamison said she had always admired the organisation.
“In terms of aged care organisations, I believe the structure of Shepparton Villages is the way going forward,” she said.
“It provides a seamless transition for our ageing community.
“I like to see people remain in their homes and independent as possible, but as people are unable to do that if they know the organisation and know the people they are able to make that informed decision about the next stage of their care.
“That’s the beautiful thing about the organisation, it has the ability to provide care in everyone’s aged care journey,” she said.
Ms Jamison praised the work of Ms Rivett and acting chief executive Greg Pullen and said she would continue to ensure all residents were able to have the best experience of ageing.
“I will also bring all my knowledge in quality, safety, human resources, leadership, aged care and health policy to benefit residents and the organisation,” Ms Jamison said.
“I am here for the long term.”
Ms Jamison said the recent COVID-19 outbreak at the aged care home was extremely unfortunate but she wanted to ensure the community that Shepparton Villages was prepared to tackle coronavirus.
“We are fighting something we cannot see,” she said.
“But my plan is, knowing the virus isn’t going away any time soon, to continue to embed our work practices into the everyday to ensure COVID-19-safe workplaces are embedded in the business as usual.
“And that work has well and truly commenced.”
Ms Jamison has relocated to Shepparton, with her partner set to join her in the near future.
An enthusiastic collector of indigenous art, keen pianist and rail trail cyclist, Ms Jamison said her friends were happy she had moved to Shepparton because they were ``excited to have a place to stay when we can again visit the trails across Northern Victoria”.
“I’m really looking forward to meeting and working with the people and wider community involved in Shepparton Villages and on a wider scale the whole community when this all passes.”
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