What a week it’s been… in fact, what a couple of months it’s been.. Friday February 19 was D-Day when the workplace I’ve been working for the last 16 years closes its doors for good permanently.

I was one of the people who started working for Domiciliary Equipment Service when it was located in Salisbury before being relocated to Netley in 2004. I started at DES in April 2001. DES has been my home away from home for 19 years, that’s a huge chunk of my life.

I have worked with some amazing people in that time, all of us with the common goal of helping the community by providing a much needed service for our clients. You spend more time with the people you work with than your own family and as people came and went, we became a family at DES. It was a unique and special place to work in.

Even though DES officially closed permanently on 18 December 2020, the clean up process began in preparation for the doors to close behind us as we leave the building one last time.

Last week, the Domiciliary Equipment Service signs outside were removed, the online auction went live selling unwanted office furniture to general kitchen appliances and everything in between that was no longer required.

This week we had people coming into the warehouse and collecting their items they bought from the online auction. Some people drove in with their vehicles into the warehouse with their utes or cars towing a trailer behind them. It was very surreal all week.

I’m fortunate to have my job with the DHS Equipment Program, the only part of DES to survive the closure and this week we’ve been busy doing our work, helping our clients and we were preparing for our relocation to the city by putting our stuff into boxes for the move. For me, leaving the building for the last time was a sad and emotional day, especially my last walk around the building and talking to a workmate who had been around just as long as I have before leaving but I’m definitely taking my memories with me.

I’m excited for what awaits the team working in the city in a new location from Monday morning.

Until next time

Kaye