Jo and Janine: A unique bond forged through sacrifice and service
The concept of sacrifice might look different to Enda "Jo" Ward and Janine Lucas, but the word binds both client and integratedliving Australia Support Worker together.
A life of service and sacrifice has different meanings to different people. For Janine, her military family background has ingrained in her deep respect for those who have served their country in the armed forces.
As an integratedliving Support Worker, Janine relishes the opportunity to give back to all clients, especially those who are also veterans. One in particular is 96-year-old Jo, Australia’s only surviving female World War II veteran who lives in her own home on Tasmania’s northwest coast.
In fact, so willing was Janine to honour 96-year-old Jo for her service as a teenager manning spotlights in Sydney, she spent nine weeks away from family and friends to ensure Jo stayed safe and well through Burnie’s Covid-19 lockdown. Jo even spent her 60th birthday alone in that time.
Find out how service, sacrifice and a good laugh can enrich lives in this heart-warming episode.
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Transcript
Introduction
integratedliving Australia acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional owners and custodians of this country. We pay our respect to them, their cultures, and customs, and to elders both past, present and emerging.
Catherine
Hello and welcome. My name is Catherine Daley, CEO of integratedliving Australia, a community-based health and aged care service provider. I'm thrilled to be welcoming you to our brand new platform, our Live Well podcast. As the media and digital landscape evolves, we want to be able to offer our clients, team members, and listeners more broadly, a new way to hear from us. Our Live Well podcast is for everyone in our integratedliving Australia community, and for anyone who loves a great story.
Each edition will speak directly with integratedliving Australia staff, our support workers, registered nurses, and people from across the country, and hear their stories. Those on the front line who deliver exceptional care to thousands of older Australians in regional, rural, and remote areas. The story you're about to hear is no exception. Join us as we speak with support worker, Janine Lucas, about the special bond she's formed with client Jo who lives in Burnie, Tasmania.
Mark
In April 2020, the small Tasmanian city of Burnie made national headlines due to a COVID-19 outbreak that infected 127 people and claimed 11 lives. The city's hospital was shut down, the army was called in, and hundreds of staff were sent home to quarantine. Restrictions on the city's residents were imposed, leaving many unable to leave their home.
Amongst the uncertainty was integratedliving Australia support worker, Janine Lucas, who was determined to continue caring for her client, Jo. Janine spent nine weeks away from friends and family, even celebrating her 60th birthday alone in her home. With a rich lineage of family who have and continue to serve in the forces, Janine believes her sacrifice is nothing in comparison to Jo's. The 96-year-old served in the Australian Army during the Second World War, manning spotlights in Sydney as a teenager.
Jo is one of the only remaining female World War II veterans living on the Northwest coast of Tasmania. The idea of sacrifice may be different for Jo and Janine, but it's a notion that binds them together.
I'm Mark Acheson, Communications Partner at integratedliving Australia, and I traveled to Burnie to unearth this remarkable story.
Well, Jo, thank you for having me in your lovely home and Janine in your community of Burnie. It's a pleasure to be here and hear about your story, both your stories. Janine, can you tell me a bit about your background and a day in the life of a support worker?
Janine
My day in the life as a support worker. Wow. I hit the ground running. Jo's my first client of a day and my last. So I get to start the day with a beautiful smiley face and finish the day with a beautiful smiley face. My days can go from three-hour days to nine-hour days, depending on the rostering. We do everything from personal care, house cleaning, taking guys out for coffee, going for walks. Oh, I do a lot of walks. Or just sitting around the house, having a coffee with a client, having a chit chat about the past.
I grew up on a farm. So my dad was a sheep farmer. My son's a farrier, horses. So I get on really well with a lot of the country people because their backgrounds are very similar to mine. But this job is the dream job.
Mark
What was it like first having Janine come into your home? Was it a little bit daunting or what was the prospect like of having somebody come and look after you in your home?
Jo
I appreciate it very much because I can't do it anymore. That's the unfortunate part. You want to do it, but you can't do it. But no, I appreciate it all, and it's nice to know that somebody's coming in of a day. So makes me sandwiches and she fixes my lunch up and dinner up and whatever. I think we get on fine. When she's not here, there's two or three others come and they're all nice people, but we must have that cup of coffee and biccie.
Mark
That's your little ritual, is it?
Janine
Oh, yeah. Got to have the biccie.
Jo
Yes. I'm very happy with the girls. I've got Janine here, she bosses me around.
Janine
I don't.
Jo
Don't tell her, will you.
Mark
Now, Jo, what's it like to stay in your home?
Jo
What's it like to stay here?
Mark
Yeah. As you age, Jo.
Jo
I like to stay in my home. I will till I can't deal with it anymore. Then I'll see sense and do what people want me to do. But at the moment I'm quite happy with the way things are. I'm quite happy here. In the summertime, I've got that sunroom out the front there and spend most of the day out there. But no, I'm happy here. Yeah. As long as nobody tries to tell me I've got to go into a nursing home or something. No.
Janine
No, you don't do that.
Mark
Janine, I'll turn the attention to you for a second. It was this time roughly last year that Burnie had the unique circumstances of going into lockdown. Now that was because of the hospital and the hospital closure due to the many COVID cases up there. Can you tell me what the mood was like in Burnie?
Janine
Very quiet. It was very eerie. You could drive from here to Wynyard and back and not see a soul, not even a car on the highway, which is unusual. Getting pulled over by the police for compliance checks to make sure that you are actually working and not just going to visit somebody. It was quite scary, I guess you could say.
Mark
So Janine, tell us what you did in order to take care of Jo during Burnie's unique circumstances and lockdown.
Janine
I gave up my family and friends for the nine weeks. I didn't see anybody, just went to work, went home and did the groceries at seven o'clock on a Tuesday morning when you were allowed to go in. And saw my dad from a distance when I bought him his groceries and took them down to him. Put them in the middle of his backyard, yelled out, "I love you," and hopped in the car and drove away.
Mark
Is that because of the unique circumstances of the industry you work in and you didn't want any, I guess, exposure?
Janine
I didn't want to run the risk of catching anything or passing anything on to any of the clients. There was a few of the girls did the same thing. We just put our lives on hold for the job.
Mark
So you went nine weeks without seeing your partner or your family?
Janine
Yep.
Mark
What was that like?
Janine
Hard.
Mark
Yep.
Janine
Video calls.
Mark
Yeah.
Janine
Lots of video calls.
Mark
And your 60th as well. Tell us about that. You'll never forget that.
Janine
I'll never forget that. That was spent at home by myself with the dog and the cat.
Mark
What went through your mind?
Janine
I hate COVID. All I wanted to do was go out to dinner for my birthday. I had a florist dropping flowers off in the middle of the front path, so to speak, and then waiting for them to leave so I could go out and get them. Yeah. So it was a very, very quiet birthday.
Mark
But you did it.
Janine
Yeah. You just had to do it. And you had to get on.
Mark
The idea of sacrifice comes from, I guess, we could say your long line of family in the forces. Do you see a synergy there as to what you did to help Jo during the lockdown? The idea of sacrifice to you is not new.
Janine
No, it's not. No, I guess you could say that giving everything up at the time was a bit like people in the forces giving up things for the betterment of others. I guess growing up in a military family, that was instilled in me right from being young. It's only for a set time. You give it up for the betterment of others and then you can go back to what you were doing before. Yeah.
Mark
So you're able to see past that short term, I guess, tough period of time for the long-term benefit of others.
Janine
Yeah. And it wasn't going to last forever.
Mark
That's what you have to tell yourself, even during your 60th.
Janine
Oh yeah. Yep. No, it's not going to last forever.
Mark
That's what you must appreciate about Jo as well, having served. Is there that common connection there too?
Janine
I think so. I'm as proud as punch of anybody that joins the forces and the sacrifices that they give up, putting their lives on hold for the benefit of everybody else. Especially during war time. I think anybody that joined the forces and went to war, be it World War II or modern day, I think they're heroes.
Mark
And tell us about your family.
Janine
Oh, God. Well, my son was in the air force. My uncle was in the army, Vietnam. My grandfather was in World War II. Great-grandfather was in World War I. Great-great uncle was buried at Gallipoli. Cousin, Navy, joined the air force. Other cousins that were in the army and the air force. A very military family. Yeah.
Mark
Jo, can you tell me about your time serving in the armed forces? You were based in Sydney, were you not?
Jo
What we did was searchlights. We were along the coast and they had the searchlights and the signals with the guns. And we worked with them and what we did, if certain planes came over at certain times, you had to have what we called the code of the day. And if they didn't bring that code on, then we knew we was in trouble.
We had our moments that we were very busy, where we had planes come over and we had planes, yellow Tiger Moths. You ever see a Tiger Moth? No. It was a biplane. They used to have it up for practice. They'd come over and we'd pretend to be killing the mood, put the light on, and guns would be going, and searchlights would be going. So I don't know what the people in Sydney thought, but we were there to protect them. but it's just something you felt you had to do.
Mark:
How old were you when you went up to Sydney, Jo?
Jo
Well, I wasn't old enough to join the air force at 16. So they told me come back when I was 18. So I went down to the army and asked them, and it wasn't long before it was, sign on the dotted line. They took anyone. That's what I reckoned.
It was the middle of June when I went in and it was freezing cold. The army had shifted from Broadmarsh to Brighton Camp. We didn't have beds. We had a [inaudible] of straw on the floor, three blankets, no pillows. And it was freezing cold. You could see the drips of ice in the hut. But towards the end, we was there to do our job.
Anyway, we learned how to march and how to salute and all that sort of thing. That was my introduction to the army. We spent time there, and Berry Street, it was called. Then we went to Wagga, Kapooka and was there, I think, it was nearly three months learning how to dismantle guns, dismantle the searchlight and march and salute and you name it. All the sort of things that they do in the army. We had the Yanks. We had food, which I don't think we ever eat. So we used to put in the garbage and go over to the Yanks. They had everything.
Mark
What was that experience like, Jo? I mean, being my age, I can't comprehend.
Jo
You can't comprehend it, no. Well, we couldn't either. We were only, well, 18-year-old kids, had never been away from home, this sort of business, and then plonked into a five-man tent with five different people and you had to adjust yourself. But we seemed to get on all right. But no, it had its moments and it had its good moments.
Mark
Now Jo, all this time later, you will be going to the Anzac Parade this Sunday.
Jo
Oh, the Anzac Parade.
Mark
Yeah. How does it feel to attend your first Anzac parade as a civilian?
Jo
Well, the only one I went in was in Sydney and it was terrific, really. They had the men and the women. They had the four women and the four men, eight across. It was a terrific march. But apart from that, when I come back to Tassie, I said, "No, I always thought that Anzac was for the men to get together with their buddies and have a talk and that." I've never thought about it till madame here got into business. So I don't know what's going to happen.
Mark
Does it feel special that you'll be able to attend your first Anzac Day Parade as a civilian?
Jo
Here?
Mark
Yeah.
Jo
Yeah. You'd have to ask, she knows it all.
Mark
She's modest, isn't she?
Janine, what's it going to mean to see Jo a part of the Anzac Day Parade as a civilian and as somebody that served, especially this idea around the fact that she's one of the only women here on the Northwest coast that served during World War II?
Janine
I think it's going to be very special, very, very special, being that we think she's the only one on the coast and the first civilian March, even though we're in a car, it doesn't matter. Just the pride in seeing Jo there at the cenotaph. So no, I think it's really good. I do believe in going that extra mile for all my clients, but my veterans, especially, my DVA clients. I don't think you can thank them enough. Nothing, I don't think, is too good for these guys.
Conclusion
If you, a family member, or friend is interested in learning more about integratedliving Australia services, head to our website at www.integratedliving.org.au, or call us on 1300 782 896. Or follow us on social media by searching integratedliving Australia. We look forward to you joining us for the next episode of the Live Well podcast.