Michael and Rebecca Finnigan launched Nurse Next Door Kiama to help connect to people within the community. Photo: Supplied.
An Illawarra couple who switched careers to improve the lives of elderly community members have already found success in their first weeks of running a new home care service.
Rebecca Finnigan has always been a people person who loves to give back.
She was a chef by trade who shifted into hospitality within the aged care sector to try and spend more time at home with her kids, but the move proved to be more than a convenience, it was a calling.
“Something was just pulling me in that direction and as soon as I walked in I knew,” Rebecca said.
“There was a moment at the aged care facility where there was an elderly lady, she was the mum, the grandma, she’d always cooked and really struggled with not being the cook anymore.
“So I started cooking with them in the kitchen and just the smile on her face and all her family messaging me afterwards saying how happy she was, that’s what made me realise that’s what I wanted to do.”
But within the aged care facilities, Rebecca and her husband Michael struggled to make a meaningful impact, so they decided to take a huge leap.
“Michael came home and said, ‘why are we doing this for other people when we can do it better ourselves?’,” Rebecca said.
“When I was on maternity leave we started planning this and when I was ready to work again we just went all into it.”
They discovered the franchise Nurse Next Door and decided to bring it to Kiama.
The business embodied their vision of offering care in the home and fostering real connection alongside vital services.
“We do home care, companionship, all the way to palliative care and we have nurses on call 24/7, so if someone needs something we can send a nurse straight out,” Rebecca said.
“As much as I can, if I can help people until their last breath at home, I will, because they’re happy, they’re at peace, they’re with their loved ones.”
And Rebecca gets to offer a personal touch that makes all the difference.
“Every client we take on, I try to do something for them that’s like a bucket list thing,” she said.
“Recently I took an elderly lady to see Keith Urban and in a couple of weeks I’m taking an autistic lady to the basketball – she loves the basketball and we have matching headphones to make her comfortable to go out.
“I’m not here to make money, I’m here to make people happy.
“Anything that I do I don’t charge the clients for, it’s only if I have to pay staff.”
Sometimes the simple moments are just as special.
“One of my clients is palliating so just to sit with him and have a cup of tea with him and his dog on his balcony, you see all the weight lifted off,” Rebecca said.
“That just means everything to me.”
Nurse Next Door Kiama officially launched at the start of August and Rebecca and Michael were told to expect about three clients in their first month, but they already had 12 clients signed up before the month was out.
“We’re hiring staff weekly because we want to keep growing, by the end of our first year we want 100 clients,” Rebecca said.
“We don’t want to say no to people.”
There are many opportunities to utilise the service which operates from Dapto to Gerroa and accepts private payment, NDIS funding or My Aged Care packages.
“We can have a 94-year-old or we can have a 19-year-old,” Rebecca said.
But no matter how large the business gets, she vowed to keep the connection.
“Right now my husband and I are doing the recruitment, finances, all of it,” Rebecca said.
“We’ll let go of all of that and completely be there for that special touch, that will just be my job completely.
“That’s how we’ll hold onto that because that’s what we are.”
They’ve tried to get their name out in the community with initiatives like giving away daffodils for Daffodil Day or ice-cream at local markets, but Rebecca urged anyone who is interested to just contact them directly.
“I want to be personal,” she said. “I will go to anyone’s house, sit down and have a coffee, meet them anywhere for a coffee, whatever they feel comfortable with.”
For more information visit the Nurse Next Door Kiama.
