Dan Roberge
Hello, Lolo. How are you?
Lolo Chiweshe
How are you?
Dan Roberge
I'm good, I'm good.
Lolo Chiweshe
I'm great.
Dan Roberge
That's good. So, tell me what you do
Lolo Chiweshe
So I'm a PSW.
Dan Roberge
And what is what is a PSW?
Lolo Chiweshe
Personal support worker, so I work in long term care.
Dan Roberge
Okay.
Lolo Chiweshe
What I do is I provide activities of daily living to the elderly.
Dan Roberge
Okay.
Lolo Chiweshe
I also work for the continuing education school boards administrators as a PSW champion.
Dan Roberge
Okay. And what does that do?
Lolo Chiweshe
I go around high schools, and I also go around Ontario school board classes.
Dan Roberge
Okay.
Lolo Chiweshe
And I talk to them about what we do in long term care.
Dan Roberge
Okay.
Lolo Chiweshe
Preparing them to come into long term care. Trying to take away the stigma surrounding this whole PSW. Making sure that even those high school students that are not sure of what they want to do, can get to thinking about getting into health care. And what better way to start as a PSW? Because, you know, the skills are highly transferable.
Dan Roberge
Okay.
Lolo Chiweshe
If their goal is to become a nurse or a doctor in the long run, if eventually they get to, you know, learn from the RPN's or RN's the doctors, and they can get to decide if that's what they really want to do. Because sometimes you think you want to do something until you get in there, and you're like, oh no.
Dan Roberge
And so you love it so much. You want to share that to young people that are thinking about a career and show them a path towards maybe something else, or even to be a personal support worker. And so what are some of the things that you love about the job?
Lolo Chiweshe
I work in a dementia unit, and I went through mental health, and had a mental health scare myself after I gave birth to my daughter. So it was a postpartum anxiety and depression, and me being vulnerable at that time was the scariest thing, because I had to depend on others to take care of me, and to take care of my baby, and me being in a position that I'm able to resonate and help the elderly. I understand their frustrations, because I was once through those the same frustrations.
Dan Roberge
Wow.
Lolo Chiweshe
I enjoy doing it. Like when you see me in there, you won't tell if I'm a resident or if I'm a PSW, because that's how much I enjoy it.
Dan Roberge
Wow. Amazing. How long have you been doing this?
Lolo Chiweshe
One year.
Dan Roberge
And what were you doing before?
Lolo Chiweshe
I was a massage therapist.
Dan Roberge
Oh, wow. Okay, so what got you into this? I mean, is it your own experience that basically led you to this?
Lolo Chiweshe
My own experience. So back at home, I had this experience, and I told myself, you know what? If I got the chance to get into this, I'll do it. And when I got the chance to come to Canada, and got introduced to the PSW through the Ontario school boards, I took it, and I didn't know how that was going to align with me getting into mental health.
Dan Roberge
Wow. Amazing. And is there a need in the industry for PSW's?
Lolo Chiweshe
There's a lot. We need about 48,000 by 2032.
Dan Roberge
Wow. Well, thank you for doing all that work, and introducing young people to it, and being a PSW is very, very valuable. So I appreciate it. It's nice talking to you. Thank you.
.svg){kind=small}