Guide Dogs Victoria
Hi Erin! It’s great to meet you. Can you tell us about yourself and your wonderful companion, Jet?
Absolutely. So, my name is Erin Goedheart. I am a guide dog handler, so I am blind, I have a condition called retinitis pigmentosa, or RP for short, and in layman's terms, it just means tunnel vision. I lost over 90% of my vision before my 18th birthday and was then classified as legally blind. Since then, I've lost more vision, I now sit somewhere between one and 2%, or basically just light and dark perception. And I have my beautiful Guide Dog here with me today, Jet. Jet is my first guide dog. He's eight and a half years old, and he and I have been working together for seven years.
How old is Guide Dogs Victoria, and what support does the organisation provide?
Guide Dogs Victoria is nearly 70 years old, so for nearly seven decades we have been serving blind and low vision Victorians in all kinds of ways. We’re best known for our iconic Guide Dogs, but we actually do a lot more. We have a Children’s Specialist program, we work with people in every stage of life – from newborns right through to centenarians and that includes a lot of white cane training which is really important before you even consider getting a Guide Dog. We do occupational therapy and we also do assistive technology training, so teaching people how to use things like voiceover on their iPhone or on their laptop so they can send and receive emails, text messages and make phone calls. Because all of that is almost impossible if you don’t have sight. So that’s a really important part of what we do as well.
This is such an exciting partnership. Everyone on campus is just doing cartwheels today. We are so overjoyed by the partnership from Miele. The washing machines and dryers that we have in our facility at the moment are about 15 years old. They have served us so well, but they are old and they are tired.
Have you had a favourite moment while working with The Guide Dogs?
I have two favourite moments. The first is when I walk in the door every morning. It is like working at Disneyland. I am doing a job I love with people I love, serving a community I absolutely love. Every morning when I walk through the door, I have the hugest smile on my face. I am just so, so privileged to be here.
The other moments that really touch my heart are the ones where we're actually working with clients, whether it's teenagers, like we're doing tomorrow, we're doing a wonderful self-care program for our teen girls, whether it's little ones, I do visits to our youngest clients that are in kindergarten and daycare and primary school, or whether it's someone who's an adult getting their first Guide Dog. Whenever I get to spend any time with clients, that's when I remember that that's why we do everything that we do. Even though people are so enamoured with our dogs, the reason we're here is the people. The little ones, the retirees, the mums and dads who are working full time and doing that with blindness and low vision, maybe raising a family as well. They're the reason we're here.
How did the partnership between Miele Professional and Guide Dogs Victoria come about?
The partnership came about when I walked into the office at Miele and spoke to Laurie, who is in charge of commercial washing machines and all that side of things, and I simply asked. I explained the incredibly urgent need we had and incredibly quickly, Laurie was able to get back to me with a very strong yes from Miele. They understood the need, they understand the work that we do, and that this is not just about fulfilling a need now. This is about setting up Guide Dogs Victoria and the community that we serve for the next decade, and they were excited to partner with us, and we felt really humbled by that.
We have an incredible team that work in our kennels, nursery and boarding block so those are three separate parts of our dog area here at the campus in Kew. Each of those areas has a dedicated commercial washing machine and commercial dryer to look after the dogs in their care, and each of those areas can easily do up to eight loads of laundry a day, especially in our nursery, when we have our beautiful guide dog mamas in there, having their little ones, then those washing machines really get a workout
How important is clean bedding and towels for the comfort and health of the animals in your care?
It is so important for the animals and the staff. Our staff work so hard to make sure that they are always giving the best standard of care to our dogs. And sometimes we have dogs who are recovering from surgery, so they're in our boarding block for that, and then we've really got to make sure that all of their bedding is really comfortable, really clean and very hygienic. And of course, when we have a beautiful Guide Dog mamas in, having them little ones, we have a really strict quarantine around our nursery. We want to keep our mamas and babies so safe and so that clean laundry is really, really critical. And puppies can be a bit messy! The washing machines definitely get a workout and having that quick turnaround is incredibly important because sometimes things happen that are unforeseen in the laundry department and you might run out of towels quicker than you budgeted for.
What’s one memorable moment you’ve had caring for an animal that’s stuck with you?
I would say my partnership with Jet, my beautiful guide dog, just overall has been incredibly life changing. I have had pet dogs my entire life. I am a huge dog lover, but Jet is my first working dog and it's really different. Jet is with me, all day, every day. He's with me at work; he's with me at home. He's with me in the cafe when I'm meeting up with a girlfriend for coffee. He's with me when I go on holiday, and the partnership and the bond is incredible, and it's really difficult to describe, but it's like we are constantly having a secret conversation that no one else can hear. I know what he's thinking, he knows what I'm thinking, and we're always checking in with each other to make sure we're both OK. It's extremely beautiful and special and precious.
Find out more about the incredible work Guide Dogs Victoria does here: Guide Dogs Victoria