WORKING in the Swan Hill District Health (SHDH) laundry for 22 years has given Jo Edera the independence and confidence to match her social personality.
Jo joined the team in the laundry in 2003 through her disability support case manager after working in a couple of cafes in Swan Hill.
She folded right into the team as they were won over by her famously social personality.
“I get along with everyone and they accepted me and are always looking after me,” Jo said.
“I fold clean towels and sometimes clothes and I get to work with different people depending on who is working each day.”
SHDH support services manager Toni Saunders said Jo was a treasured member of the laundry team.
“Jo has proven how embracing all abilities, strengths and talents can only progress development and improve culture,” she said.
“In her time as part of the environmental and support services team since late 2003, Jo has brought new perspectives to the workplace.
“Her bright, bubbly personality has continually boosted morale and her confidence is empowering.”
The purpose and friendship that Jo finds in the laundry pushed her through a difficult health episode in 2017 which prevented her from working for a year.
She was in hospital in Melbourne for months before undertaking rehab to learn how to walk again in Bendigo and then Swan Hill, eventually being able to settle back at home once accessibility aids were installed.
“My friends from work came and visited me in hospital in Melbourne,” she said.
“My goal was to go back to work with my friends and to dance again, so I had to start walking again.”
Jo has been back in the hospital laundry for seven years, progressing from an hour a day for three days a week to an hour five days a week as her health improved.
For Jo’s mum Lucy Edera, it has been a joy to watch Jo seize this opportunity over the past two decades.
“We’re thankful the hospital gave Jo the opportunity and took that chance in 2003 when there weren’t many opportunities available,” she said.
“She has always been very social and quickly makes friends, and here she’s just one of the girls in the team.
“She’s been so welcomed here, and I’m always told how valued she is.
“I know she’s going to be OK.”
Lucy said the independence Jo had developed through work had flowed into the rest of her life.
“Working in the laundry gave her the independence and confidence to live her own life,” Lucy said.
“She walks home or to the library after work, and if it’s too far for her she calls a taxi, and I know she’ll be safe.
“When Jo was in recovery it was heartening to know she had somewhere to go and something to motivate her through that challenge.
“It’s Jo’s personality to keep going, and her social attitude made her want to get back to work and her friends.”
Jo spends time outside of work participating in social disability support services like The SHOP and Vivid Living, and her friends that she has kept since kinder and primary school still take her to see the Christmas lights every year.
