For just over six months, registered nurse Sheonagh Fleming, 29, has manned the aged care ward of Long Bay Correctional Complex in Malabar, 14 kilometres south-east of Sydney’s central business district.
Without a moment’s consideration, she declares it’s a position she very much enjoys. And despite her work being mentally and physically taxing, Fleming looks in high spirits too.
“It’s very busy,” says Fleming, who sat down with Australian Ageing Agenda on the ward during a break in her 12-hour shift. “But everyone is lovely. I love working with this team. Everyone works hard and just gets the job done.”
There are 15 male residents living in the ward at the time of the visit. All are aged over 60, including two aged 60-69, seven aged 70-79 and six aged 80 or over. There haven’t been any females on this ward for around a decade.
I’ve never felt fearful being at work.
Each man has his own room with a television and personal items they are permitted to keep. There’s also a common area with a large television, an outdoor area surrounded by plants and a resources room where older people in custody can book time on the computer and do projects.
It’s a colourful setting with art on the walls and light pouring in. On the day AAA visits the complex, the atmosphere is calm with some of the older men conversing over cups of coffee in front of the TV and others sitting silently in the garden.
It’s just like being on any other aged care ward, says Fleming. “I’ve never felt nervous. [The patients] have a lot of respect for us, especially when we’re giving them their medication,” Fleming tells AAA.
Fleming began her nursing career while a student at UCLA college in Dublin, Ireland, at 17 years-old. She qualified as a nurse when she turned 21and migrated to Australia six years ago.
Her current role is extremely satisfying, says Fleming.
“Just brushing their teeth, giving them a shave, making them look presentable; I do enjoy that,” she says of the personal care that takes place inside their rooms.
While working in a maximum-security facility might sound intimidating, Fleming says the ward is “well organised” and correctional officers are around to ensure their safety. “I’ve never felt fearful being at work.”
Plus, this isn’t her first rodeo. Fleming previously spent almost two years as a prison nurse at Silverwater Correctional Complex, in Sydney’s west.
In her current role, care is usually provided after rooms have been unlocked and the prisoners are free to move about the ward.
A typical workday starts with giving out medication and providing personal care, says Fleming. Next is attending the diabetic patients and anyone requiring antibiotics administered intravenously. While Fleming is administering insulin, a colleague is preparing the breakfasts.
“Then we have a list of things to attend to after that such as re-dressing wounds, and bloods that need to be done. I try and get all those kinds of jobs done before we lock them back into their rooms at 10.30am,” she says.
I have never wanted to know their crimes.
By midday she and two team members – an assistant in nursing and another registered nurse – administer a second round of medications, give out the lunches prepared earlier, and check patients’ vital signs. At 2 o’clock, the team repeats everything in a third round before the prisoner patients are locked into their rooms again.
The process becomes “automatic,” says Fleming, who adds the work doesn’t stop there. Administrative duties also have to be completed such as daily checklists.
Dinner is early, at 4:30pm, and another medication round follows. Notes also need to be completed before she gets them prepared for bed and hands over to the night nurse at 6:30pm.
Fleming admits the daily conveyor belt is “hectic” but says sometimes it’s easy to forget you’re in a prison at all.
“You’re looking at a patient as a whole with a holistic approach,” she says. “I have never wanted to know their crimes. You see them as any other patient you would have in a hospital. You make sure they’re comfortable and keep them company. Listen to their stories because they have lots of them.”
Fleming says she aims to try and build rapport with the people she is looking after and maintain their quality of life.
“They put bingo on in here. They have cooking classes. But they don’t have access to their families like in a normal nursing home,” she says. “If they’re complaining of pain, we have to take them seriously and get pain relief, because we don’t want them suffering.”
Fleming tells AAA the most challenging part of the job comes when prisoners are on a “full lock down” due to a lack of correctional officers. It means the entirety of her tasks must happen room-to-room, with only one of the 15 cells open at a time and limited access for her as a result.
“Sometimes here they’re 30 officers short for one shift,” she says.
On her wish list for improvements within her work environment, Fleming says an extra pair of hands in the form of another nurse every day “would be lovely” because the workload and number of tasks comes with a little pressure.
“There’s a fair bit going on in my head all the time, so it would be nice to have that load lightened,” Fleming says.
“More equipment would also be good. We have a hoist, but it’s been around a while. There are definitely better ones available. We’ve cut back six per cent or something in our spending already. More money for us would be good too.”
Despite what the public might think about working in a prison, Fleming says she believes they are delivering a good service, and the inmates have a good life.
“They all get along well in here as well,” she says. “There’s a social aspect to my role too. We always make sure we take them out into the garden, some of them in wheelchairs, some can make it alone.”
The garden Fleming is talking about is filled with greenery and birdsong, plus a large chess board painted on the ground. She says the prisoners like to feed the birds most days.
This aged care nurse has no plans to leave and says she can imagine herself remaining in the field for a long time to come.
“I would definitely recommend this job,” she says cheerily. “I enjoy it. It’s just like working in any other nursing home.”
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