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How DIAL-AN-ANGEL got its name...

After the birth of my third daughter, I was having a few problems.  This was the first time in my life that I could remember being really unwell.

We called the local council to see if there were any government agencies which offered assistance in the home. We were met with "we don't provide home help - council's have no facilities for providing help in the home".  I was told to ask my neighbours if anyone could assist.

I remember vacuuming the lounge room carpet when the baby was about 6 weeks' old and although I felt much better, I was still physically depleted. "If I could only dial an angel" I said aloud.  My brain caught hold of the phrase and "dial an angel - dial an angel" went round and round in my mind.  "What a catchy name for a home help agency" I thought.  "I wonder if I can get one of my friends with older children to start a home help agency with warm hearted, capable experienced homemakers to help young mums.  All most people need is another pair of hands"!

Over the next two weeks, the idea for an agency was formulated and I thought I should write it down in case one of my friends could initiate it and would welcome my input. I used three large sheets of butcher's paper and wrote out the first 4 advertisements (two to attract the right sort of applicants to become Angels and when that nucleus was formed another two for clients who might like to use the service). I also formulated an overview of how it should be established and run.  I wrote down the criteria I was seeking for someone to be an Angel in my own home.  The personality traits, the skills and the attributes required were specific and detailed.

And so ... I started to wonder how I could go about getting this Angel business started. I must have said aloud "Where can I raise some money to place the advertisements in The North Shore Times" the local paper which was the "bible" for North Shore residents. Nadine, my 6 year old, looked up at me and said "Mummy you can get money from the bank - we go there every Friday and the girl at the counter gives you money for our food".  In those days, every bank had a bank manager on the premises and although I had only ever exchanged casual greetings with him, I fronted up at the local ANZ bank and asked if he was free to speak to me.  He came out, shook my hand and ushered me into his "inner sanctum".  Danielle was asleep in the car basket which I carried into his office.

I told him what I wanted to do and he seemed very impressed. "Yes I can certainly lend you $500 to start the business, I will prepare all the documents and you can take them home for your husband or father to sign.  I was stunned.  I said "My father has been dead for almost 10 years and my husband is less than enthusiastic about the project anyway - can't I sign the papers myself?"  He smiled benignly at me and said "Banks don't lend money to women who have no income, no collateral and no prospects - I am so sorry".  He started to roll up the butcher's paper whilst telling me about what a great idea it was and the hardships his own wife faced as a Bank Manager's wife who was always being relocated in country areas away from her family support.  A light turned on in my brain "If you take my idea home to your wife and she thinks it is a good idea how much money could you lend me on my own recognizance"?  He said he supposed he could manage to "gamble" $200 on me (my bank record was good).  Decimal currency had only been introduced that year on 14 February 1966.

I left the outline for DIAL AN ANGEL on the butcher's paper with ‘him.  The following morning at about 8.30, my phone rang and it was the Bank Manager who said "My wife thinks it's a b***** brilliant idea - but I can only let you have $200 on your own recognizance. I was so excited that I said "I will be there in 15 minutes, please have the documents ready"!

From the bank, I drove to the North Shore Times office in Chatswood and met the advertising editor who assisted me with the layout and costing of the first advertisement.  I planned it to go into the North Shore Times on Wednesday 15 March 1967.  By this time, my girls would be back at school and kindergarten and with a bit of luck I would be free to interview for Angels.  The editor smiled as he said to me "You know the 15 March is the Ides of March" and I replied "Yes so it is. Well it certainly was not good for Julius Caesar but I am sure it is going to be perfect for Angels"!

Over the next few weeks, I applied for an Employment Agent's licence and learned that I would need commercial premises for interviewing applicants.  I had two good looking young policemen call in to meet me one Sunday morning as they had concerns with the name and thought it might be a house of ill repute!  I could not believe that anyone had such evil thoughts about my lovely dial-an-angel name.  They ended up having a cup of coffee with me and learned first hand about the business.  They even chatted with Leon who came in from the garden to find out what I had done to have policemen call at the house! They recommended me unequivocally for the Agency licence.

I ran to the newsagency the following week and bought a ledger to keep a record of income and expenditure (I still have the original book) - headed it up with income on the right page and expenditure on the left page.  I also bought a lined and page numbered book for all the bookings I was going to receive and drew columns down each side - left for the name of the Angel I would send and on the right for comments from the clients about the service and the Angel's performance!

March 15 1967

The North Shore Times was delivered by early Wednesday afternoon but had been available at the newsagencies from earlier in the day.  My phone started ringing by early afternoon and the calls kept coming in all afternoon and evening.  I had a waiting list of 22 prospective clients before I had had time to interview my first applicant and I hadn't yet found office premises which I was supposed to have as an Employment Agent.

The phone did not stop for the rest of the week and the following weekend.  I knew I could not run the business from home for another reason - my husband would have divorced me immediately - we could not sit down for a meal without the phone ringing.

However, I had to do the first interviews in my lounge room as I had started something I could not now control. I found an office in a ‘crows nest' above Lisbeth Frock Salon at 328 Pacific Highway just across from Lindfield railway station. There were two flights of steep rising stairs which I negotiated with Danielle in the car basket and found muscles I didn't know I had.  I used to joke "if the applicants can climb the stairs, they should be able to give a good day's work with a family".

Instead of a second advertisement for Angels I placed a small line advertisement for a manager to help me in the office.  I had a couple of replies but one stood out above all the others.  I had explained what the business was about to all of the applicants and said I had very limited funds to pay a good wage.  A very cultured voice surprised me with the following comment "Why it sounds like just what I want to do and don't worry about the small wage - I would be happy to work for nothing - in fact I have been organising this sort of thing for years for my friends and have never expected payment for it".  Phil Akins stayed with me in the business for 14 years.

Now you will want to know how the word Angel came to mind.

When I arrived in Sydney in 1956 at age 17 years to study at Sydney University, I stayed with an Aunt in Rose Bay.  Friends of the family lived just around the corner and had a very handsome 21 year old son.  I used to call in every morning on my way to the Pharmacy (I was apprenticed at Dover Heights) to say hello to them.    One day I called in and the unit was a total mess, the door left open and no one at home. Beds were unmade, empty cans were strewn across the table, dishes unwashed in the sink.  This was totally out of character as our friends were meticulously clean and tidy.  I was early for work, so I made the beds, washed the dishes and took the garbage out.  

When I got home that night my aunt told me that our friends' only child had contracted poliomyelitis and was in an iron lung in Prince Henry Hospital and that they spent almost every waking moment at the hospital.

Each day I called in to see how David was progressing as polio was a dreadful disease. Each day I made the beds, cleaned the kitchen and peeled some vegetables so that they had something other than cans of food to heat and eat.  They took to leaving me little notes with money to buy food and always headed them up "To our dear little Angel".

This went on for about 3 weeks until David started to improve and they did not need to be at the hospital all day.  When things returned to normal I promptly forgot about my role in their day to day lives.

Ten years later the name "Angel" must have come to the surface of my consciousness when I needed exactly that sort of help myself.  Just another pair of hands to make the beds, wash the dishes, shop for food, clean the kitchen and help with the day to day living needs. 

DIAL-AN-ANGEL had been forging ahead for 10 years when someone asked me "but how did you think of the word Angel for household assistance?"  As I mentally searched for when it may have originally happened, I went back over my life after leaving school - and then it dawned on me!  It was the family I cared for who had coined the phrase - I was merely the catalyst in making it work for other families Australia-wide.

Dena Blackman founded DIAL-AN-ANGEL over 44 years ago and today it is the only national agency specialising in the provision of home and family care. The company provides childcare, nannies, occasional babysitting, before and after-school care, emergency "fill-in" child carers, as well as housekeeping services, Eldercare-at-home®, in-home nursing, handyman services, in-home entertaining and corporate functions.

For further information contact Danielle Robertson, CEO, DIAL-AN-ANGEL Pty Limited on 02 9362 4225 or email on administration@dialanangel.com