Roseanna Gerreyn
Cook   
Spiritus - Neilson Home for the Aged

Every meal Roseanna Gerreyn prepares for the residents at Neilson Home has been made ‘from scratch’ with fresh meat, fruit and vegetables which she has ordered from suppliers she has come to trust. After twenty-five years of cooking for the elderly and people with special needs she says:

 “There are always new things to learn, new experiments to make. Along with catering for residents with very specific food requirements or allergies or who have problems with digestion and swallowing, we ensure fresh fruit or fruit salad is on the menu every day. Additionally, we cook our own puddings and cakes such as muffins, rhubarb and apple crumble, custard and banana cake. I love my job – it’s my passion.”

Ignacio Jimenez
State Co-ordinator
Co-ordinated Advocacy in the Multicultural Sector (CAMS)

His multiculturally focussed activities mean Ignacio is involved in supporting and resourcing a team of twenty Multicultural Community and Advocacy workers based in sixteen community organisations across the state.

The aims of the Program are to increase access, participation and social inclusion in Queensland’s culturally diverse society, the promotion of harmony and diffusing conflicts as he moves around different cultures, advocating for migrants and refugees, our ‘new Australians’. Always expanding his network and finding opportunities for communication in wider society, he hopes that the immediate future will see him in a variety of classrooms across Queensland.

 “I wish to share my knowledge, and that of others in the Multicultural network, of the richness and significance of the different peoples living in Australia with students, so they can expand their understanding and see for themselves the interesting and vital multicultural work in which Spiritus is involved.”

Lisa Godden
Music Therapist
Spiritus St John’s Home, Toowong & Caboolture Community Care

Lisa Godden has an unusual occupation. As a Music Therapist, she addresses the emotional, behavioural, physical and cognitive needs of the people with whom she works.

They are primarily quite elderly and some have dementia; some are house-bound and some, withdrawn and isolated. She trained at the University of Queensland, one of only four Australian universities which offer Music Therapy as an undergraduate degree. After three years working with Spiritus in aged care, she says

“Music is so powerful and I am lucky enough to be able to bring this into people’s lives and it really can make a big difference. I really love my job too – I believe it’s such an important one and also it’s  important for people to have the opportunity to do something that’s fun and achievable. Music can do that – it changes lives.”