When Lyn Hamley joined Catholic Healthcare in 1996, the organisation looked very different to the one she knows today. Back then, Catholic Healthcare was in its early years, with Hawkesbury Hospital at the centre of its work and only a small number of aged care services beginning to take shape.
After seeing an advertisement in the local newspaper, Lyn joined the small commissioning team tasked with getting Catholic Healthcare’s first major project ready to open. Her role was essential: to help build the payroll system from the ground up. That first role was only the beginning of a career that would span 30 years.
‘We had to start from scratch. We had to bring all the employees from the old Hawkesbury Hospital into the Catholic Healthcare payroll and get them ready,’ Lyn recalls.
The day Hawkesbury Hospital opened its doors remains one of the most meaningful moments of Lyn’s career. She remembers patients being moved across the road, people everywhere, and the new hospital becoming a reality. ‘It was such a happy day. Nothing went wrong because so many people had put so much hard work into it.’
As Catholic Healthcare grew, Lyn grew with it. The organisation expanded into aged care and community services, and each new service brought new systems, new teams and new challenges.
In the early years, Lyn was often the person others relied on to keep things moving. For a time, she was the payroll function. Holidays were difficult because there was no one else to run the pays. As the organisation expanded, the payroll and HR team grew into a specialised function supporting services across multiple regions.
Lyn is proud of having established Catholic Healthcare’s first payroll and rostering systems. She’s also proud of supporting many people who began their careers in payroll to build confidence, develop their skills and move forward in their own careers.
Today, she works behind the scenes on specialised payroll functions like long service leave calculations or data transfers for new services coming onboard. It is different from the fast-paced frontline payroll work of the early years, but no less important. Her knowledge, records and long organisational memory continue to provide valuable support to her team and to Catholic Healthcare.
For Lyn, payroll has always been about people. ‘If you get it right, everybody’s happy,’ she says. Lyn’s connection to Catholic Healthcare runs deeper than the work itself. She speaks warmly of the organisation’s integrity, compassion and care, and of the support she has received through challenging times. ‘Catholic Healthcare is really unique. It’s about people and doing the right thing. We practice what we preach here. The support and the care are genuine,’ Lyn says.
After 30 years of service, Lyn’s contribution is woven into the history of Catholic Healthcare. She has seen the organisation grow from a small team where everyone knew each other into a much larger community supporting thousands of older people across residential aged care, home and community services, retirement living and support functions. While the scale has changed, Lyn believes the essence of Catholic Healthcare remains the same: ‘It’s like a family. One huge, big family,’ she says.
Thank you for your great contribution to Catholic Healthcare, Lyn.