By Olivia Bunter
Earlier this year, Chairman of Catholic Homes Board, John Ogilvie, announced Paul Andrew as the CEO for the Archdiocesan agency.
Mr Andrew recently spoke with The Record about his professional career and the mission of Catholic Homes moving forward with a new leader at the helm.
Born in Melbourne, Paul Andrew has long since considered WA home as he moved with his family when he was six years old. He attended school at City Beach Primary and later, City Beach Senior High School.
“I studied part-time, completing a double degree and worked full-time over a six or seven year period,” Mr Andrew explained. “During this time, I learned to use my time wisely as I juggled work and study.”
Since then, Mr Andrew’s career has impressively kaleidoscoped across various agencies and organisations, including Lotterywest, Surf Life Saving WA, St John of God Healthcare and Catholic Education WA (CEWA).
He credited his eight years at CEWA as a formative experience where he learnt the true meaning of how to serve the communities we all live and work within. Surrounded by good, knowledgeable people, Paul acknowledges the guidance and mentoring he received in developing the leadership skills he has relied upon in his past 13 years as a CEO..
“I was provided with opportunities to grow professionally and being surrounded by such high caliber people created such a wonderful learning environment for me ,” he said.
Now, as CEO for Catholic Homes, Mr Andrew said that, despite the agency moving through significant changes, it continues to maintain the high level of care standards they have provided to their residents for over than 50 years.
“Our model of care, ‘Care with Purpose’, is a wonderful way to care for people that we serve within our residences and through our home care service which are based on the Montessori care model.
The Montessori model aims at supporting people to achieve their potential and is centred on knowledge of the persons past, their current abilities and physical, social and emotional needs.
The model extends across the services offered by the Catholic Homes and is something that Mr Andrew explains will continue in its development.
“It’s highly effective and highly regarded out within community and within the industry and that can be seen with our occupancy rates and our growing home care services.”
“We strive to be seen as a destinational organisation, where the people we serve want to come to Catholic Homes to be cared for and our staff want to fulfill their vocation of caring with purpose at Catholic Homes.”