Julie’s career of caring
• Outgoing May Shaw CEO Julie Orr looks back at a fulfilling career. Photo supplied.
By Daisy Baker
July 08, 2020
Throughout Julie Orr’s successful career in nursing and aged care which has spanned almost 50 years, she has worked at facilities across Tasmania and interstate but her ties to the North-East have remained strong.
Ms Orr was raised in Derby by her parents Bill and Yvonne Thorne, who were both actively involved in the community.
Mr Thorne was a butcher and had his own store, which shifted several times over the years.
First it was where the Hub is now, and later it was opposite the Tin Mine Centre, before moving once again to one of the shops in the main strip.
“They had the post office for some time and then the top shop for a while,” she recalled.
“Dad was always the butcher and would deliver meat out to Gladstone.
“They ran the Derby River Derby for years and we’d all come home and help out.”
Much of their time was also spent with local sporting clubs.
Mr Thorne was the netball coach at Derby and played football for the NEFU, while Mrs Thorne became actively involved in NENA, and was the president for some time.
Ms Orr said her mum, who now lives at May Shaw in Swansea, has always been politically minded.
“She was the first female councillor elected into Ringarooma Council when that was going.”
Mrs Thorne was Dorset Mayor from 1999 – 2002 and Deputy Mayor from 1993 – 1999 and 2005 – 2011.
“Mum and Dad just loved the North-East. They lived in Derby until 2015 and I was so pleased they saw Derby come back,” Ms Orr said.
“They were integral to the community.”
Ms Orr has found a fulfilling career in nursing and aged care, but it’s not the path she first expected to take as a young woman.
“I was going to be a teacher initially, so I did nine months at teachers’ college and hated it,” she laughed.
“This is back in the early 70s. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.
“Mum’s sister lived at Burnie, so I went down there to try out the nursing course and fell in love with it immediately.”
Ms Orr said some of the experiences she had in her first year in the industry at just 19 have shaped her career.
“It’s all about the people. I’m a real people person and when I first started as nurse, my first 12 months were spent almost exclusively in a medical ward with mainly older people and I think that’s where my love for aged care comes from,” she said.
“They taught me so much about life from their experiences.
“I never intended to end up in management - I just loved the nursing itself.”
She went to Western Australia for several years to do her midwifery training before returning to Tasmania.
In 1983 she was appointed as the community nurse at Gladstone, which led her back to the North-East for seven years.
“One of the highlights of my career would be this time as a community nurse - to be invited into people’s homes and know everything about them is a huge privilege,” she said.
“You go in initially as a stranger and over time you become great friends.”
While she was in Gladstone, she got back into netball and helped start the Bridport Netball Club.
Ms Orr then moved back to Launceston where she worked at St Luke’s as one of the managers, before she took over running Sydney Launceston IVF.
In 2001 she moved to Swansea and embarked on a new journey at May Shaw and since 2008 she has been the CEO, working between their Swansea facility and Aminya.
She hopes that the aged care Royal Commission will deliver positive changes in the industry.
“I think it’s sad people in aged care don’t get enough respect for what they’ve done in their lives to make the country what it is today,” she said.
“They tend to go into aged care and get forgotten about.
“I’m hoping changes in aged care will definitely ensure that the residents in aged care are respected and do get choice.”
Ms Orr has now departed May Shaw as the CEO after 12 years.
She said she is unsure what the next chapter will hold for her but she is looking forward to a well-deserved break after which she will reassess.
She said no doubt her community involvement will continue.
“It’s been a total privilege to work up here and come back to the North-East regularly.
Swansea is now home but I will always have ties back here in the North-East.”
Sandy Travers is now acting CEO at May Shaw.