Everything is coming up roses for Yvette

When Yvette Young needs time away from her busy schedule at Currie Park, the chances are you will find her in the village’s rose garden.

It’s her favourite part of the garden because it is a peaceful place to sit and ponder.

“There are over 150 rose bushes in the garden and across the village, and the sight and smell of them in full bloom is fantastic,” Yvette said.

Yvette started working at Old Colonists’ Association of Victoria last December and has never regretted the move.

“It is a friendly, relaxed place to work. I love the diversity of the job, and the fact that I have the opportunity to do a bit of everything which includes talking with our residents,” Yvette said.

In a sense, Yvette has returned home. She grew up in Euroa. She became an Enrolled Nurse when she was 23 working in Euroa and Benalla hospitals. Her father had an upholstery shop in the town’s main street.

She moved from Euroa for about ten years to live on the NSW south coast helping out with her family’s earthmoving company.

“We did a massive amount of work in the NSW bushfire recovery which was rewarding and also enormously sad to see how many homes and possessions were lost,” Yvette said.

“But the stories we heard and the resilience we saw was inspiring.”

Now back in Euroa, Yvette is keen to promote Currie Park across the wider community.

“The village is a little way out but what it offers in terms of inclusion, programs, housing and other services is extraordinary,” Yvette said.

She says the different programs offered at Currie Park were varied and aimed at connecting residents with each other, offering new things to try, and simply have the time to support each other.

The residents have a regular art class on Monday led by a resident artist; there are coffee mornings, a book club, a walking group, a virtual reality program as well as exercise classes led by an experienced physiotherapist.

“I love working with older people. They are witty, have so much experience and wisdom and look for solutions rather than problems,” Yvette said.

As she says life is good with only one major challenge: how to get her 13-year-old son to accept AFL rather than NRL.