It’s that time again on a mid-week evening where the hustle and bustle of the office has ended…

The Administrator has finished the filing and left with a bag of envelopes full of schedules, our Care Coordinator has eaten all the Maryland cookies from the tin and organised everyone on their daily visits.

The seniors have left with their charisma, jokes, and entertainment.

The phones have stopped ringing, the footprints of the other offices making countless trips to the kitchen to queue for the kettle have left.

All that’s left is the sound of the over worked printer, the cleaner working her way through our busy offices and the sound of the birds singing outside.

I always like this time of day…. When the madness stops and I can sit and ponder on the day and what I’ve learnt from it. Every day is always so different and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Being a Care Manager and Care Director is sometimes like being on the Waltzers at the Mid Lent fair. You can feel like your brain is whirring at a million miles per hour. Your ensuring your team are ok and your customers are all happy.

The phones are ringing, the emails are flowing. There’s always something new happening to keep us involved in the community. Whether its events to organise, fundraising collections, training workshops, team meetings, office meetings, ordering supplies, quality checks, reviews, new assessments, care plans to write, audits to maintain…. there is most definitely never a dull moment!

My favourite part though is sitting with my team, watching them learn and develop into awesome carers. Seeing the carefully handpicked team grow into their roles. Watch their confidence grow, and hear all the lovely stories of the care visits in place.

What is even better…. Visiting our customers and hearing their life stories and how much my awesome team change their days. This makes me smile, and I feel proud that every day we are making such a difference.

I sit here now whilst it’s quiet and think the day over and how this remarkable journey has utterly transformed not just my life but so many. Not just our special customers but that of 16 employees. I’ve come to learn about all their personalities, their quirky ways and get to know their families and loved ones. Careers are being grown, qualifications gained, new stories told, and laughs had all round.

Often when our trainer visits ‘Derek’ we sit and have a natter and put the world to rights. This week was absolutely no different. Before a busy training session in ‘Parkinson’s awareness’ we went and made the most of the glorious Stamford sunshine. Sat outside ‘Café Nero’ on the busy hustling high street with a cappuccino and skinny latte.

We were sat discussing the current views of care not just in the community setting but residential. We were chatting about the perception of care and how the media contribute to this is positive and unfortunately often negative.

We discussed our passion of the industry and how and what ‘Outstanding’ care should look like. This is often a subject we discuss, in fact I think we could spend endless hours on this topic and never quite reach the end of this subject.

Sharing your passion with someone who is on the same page and sees the difference we could all make in the care world if there weren’t so many challenges is truly refreshing.

I often spend evenings lying awake thinking of ideas of how we can make a difference and reshape this perception and I certainly like to think we have already started doing this in Stamford. My best ideas always come at 3am and the notebook by my bed is now full of all my aspirations and dreams. Some of which have happened already such as our recent party at the William Cecil with all our lovely customers, friends and families.

What should care look like….

It’s simple, isn’t it?

Caring, compassionate, dignified, respectful and refreshing!

It’s about helping someone with the small little things that we take for granted yet make such a huge difference to someone else, it’s about kindness and spreading it like confetti!

So ‘Wright Care at Home’ is all about ensuring KINDNESS is spread throughout and if we can pass on our delivery of care throughout then we have achieved more than we could have hoped for. It’s not about competing with competitors, it’s not about being the best, it’s not about being the biggest provider. It’s about joining with other health professionals and providers and ensuring that as a town we have the deserved service for all our customers. We all have the same goals! We all want the same outcomes!

We have already built foundations and network partnerships with charities to ensure that we can give something back to those who have supported our customers. We are currently working with one of our team to involve the town and what it has to offer with how we can create stimulus and companionship for our customers and Stamford’s residents. Such as the local theatre groups.

Care isn’t just about the daily activities, care is about going above and beyond and looking after our generations. Treating people with the same compassion as we all hope we will once receive. We are in a growing population and care is in greater demand. However, it’s time care was perceived as positive and recognised for its outstanding moments. The precious moments and glimpses of heart-warming windows we get to see. It’s time our care givers were given the recognition they deserve and time that we all go above and beyond to promote quality of life.

Age shouldn’t be something we all dread, often I hear ‘I never want to grow old.’

It’s time we changed this, age is gracious and with age comes stories, memories and new chapters. It’s time we all work together to provide the best outstanding care there is.

With life comes age, with age becomes wrinkles. But within all those wrinkles is a time to be shared, passed on and cherished. Generations will pass down to generations.

I want Wright Care at Home to ensure that we make a difference and let’s be honest so does every care provider. Life is for living, age doesn’t compromise this.

So, it’s nearly 9pm in ‘The Grey House,’ So with this reflective blog it’s time to turn off the lights, lock the doors and get some shut eye. Because before we know it tomorrow is a new day and who knows what may come…. Life is full of mystery that’s what makes it oh so special.

On that note. Goodnight Friends.

Xxx

Written and posted by Samantha Wright

Care Director

Wright Care at Home