As we are all aware, caring is one of the most essential jobs both in the community, hospitals and care homes. During “Glad To Care” week, we interviewed some of our care staff at Oaklands alongside some of the residents, to see what caring meant to them and why our carers are Glad To Care.
Pat Cousins is one of Oaklands longest serving carers with an amazing 23 years under her belt. We asked Pat how long she had been caring for and in total she has worked a staggering 47 years in this sector. We asked Pat why she liked caring so much, she told us “it’s in my nature, I like to know people are being looked after properly” and when we wanted Pat’s views on what it takes to be a good carer, she said “I really believe it has to be part of your nature, you really need to care about people and respect them, you want to treat them as you would want to be treated yourself”.
Carlos Silva worked 3 years as a carer before taking a break to go back to his previous profession as a chef. However, Carlos missed caring and felt that’s where his true calling was. Carlos has now been working with us at Oaklands for two years and enjoys his job. We asked Carlos why he wanted to be a carer, Carlos told us “I like helping people and making them happy, I like to help them achieve that happiness, I want our residents to know they are still important people, to be treated with respect and care”. We asked Carlos what he thought made a good carer, Carlos replied “It’s in the nature of every single human being to be able to care, some have a greater need to care than others, these are the people that make good carers”.
Jo Richardson has been caring for 7½ years, 5 years were spent looking after her dad who had dementia. When we asked Jo why she wanted to carry on with care as a career, Jo felt she wanted to help as many people suffering with dementia as she could and to give a little back. Jo joined the team at Oaklands 2 ½ years ago, she told us “you get so much out of it, to see a smile on a residents face and know you are the one who put it there is very rewarding”. And when we asked Jo what makes a good carer, she said “really you need to be a good allrounder, you need to be able to relate to people, to have an understanding of what they are going through and a sense of humour helps, but above all you must want to do it, I love my job”.
Nandor Feher started his caring career as an agency worker often visiting Oaklands. Nandor enjoyed working at Oaklands and got to know all the residents so when an opportunity arose for Nandor to join the team on a permanent basis, he was happy to be able to fill that role and has now been with us for 1 ½ years. We asked Nandor why he had chosen care as a career, and he told us that he simply liked helping people. And when we asked Nandor what attributes you needed to be a good carer, he replied “Patience, understanding, the want to help people and a good sense of humour comes in handy”.
And on the other side of the spectrum, we wanted to get the view of some of our residents about being in care. One resident told us “I have reached the age where I need a little help in certain areas, the care at Oaklands is very good, the staff are very nice and I enjoy the company”.
All our carers do a wonderful job, and each one is a vital part of our team at Oaklands.
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