Physiotherapist moves into better care
Date of Posting:
Trish Noakes and Fergus Nelson
A former Australian Cricket team physiotherapist has reignited his passion for working in the health sector with a new career path.
Fergus Nelson worked as a sports physio for 28 years, including two years spent touring overseas and nationally with the Australian Cricket team, and had his own private practice at Forbes and Parkes in central west New South Wales, worked in Canberra, and was also the ACT Physiotherapy branch president.
Now, Fergus is a franchisee of Just Better Care, an Australian network of locally-owned agencies which provides care choices enabling people to live independently at home.
Established in 2005, Just Better Care offers services including personal, palliative and dementia care, nursing, medication and wound care, as well as domestic assistance and outings for social support. It now has 21 franchises across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the ACT.
Fergus said he bought the franchise after realising he had lost his passion for work and needed to find a new direction.
“As is often the case with professionals, the options I had seemed fairly limited, often very closely connected to what I was doing as a physio,” he said.
“I was looking for something that would use other skills I possessed and challenge me in new ways.
“I am a person who likes change and see life’s journey as being about growing and developing.”
Fergus bought the franchise in 2008 and now has more than 100 staff who support around 300 people each week, amounting to about 1100 hours of support services across the ACT and south east New South Wales, from Goulburn and Yass across to Braidwood and Batemans Bay and then down the coast as far as Narooma.
Fergus said his business provides domestic assistance, meal preparation, shopping, personal care, social support, transport and respite through to high level disability support services.
“There is so much I love about my new career,” he said.
“I love working in an area where the work we do has a direct impact on the lives of the people we support - where we can empower people to live full and active lives.
“I love being in a position to support the staff who deliver the services. For too long people working in community support have been undervalued and I love being able to provide our staff with a work place that values the wonderful work that they do.
“This is an amazing career in which I am constantly learning about both myself and the people I work with.”
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