Carers Week gives us an opportunity to raise awareness of caring, the challenges unpaid carers face and to also acknowledge the differences they make to families and communities throughout the UK. The aim this year is to make caring Visible, Valued and Supported. To learn more about Carers Week 2022 click here.
Hannah J Deputy Care Services Manager
"Working in care over the last couple of years has certainly been a big challenge! Especially here in the care centre where we oversee the clients schedules and the new packages of care. We wouldn’t have got through it without the dedication of our wonderful care team and carers. It’s been lovely to see how resilient, passionate and hardworking the carers are and how they make such a difference to our clients lives."
If you are interested in becoming a Care Support Worker with PramaCare, send us your details today, visit https://www.pramacare.org.uk/jobs, apply and join our team!
During Carers Week 2022 we asked our Care team what it means to them to be a Care Support Worker, here's what they said...
Michael P
In a few words, being a carer for me is such a rewarding job and has such a high feel-good factor knowing or hoping you've made someone's day, whether its personal care and making that person feel comfortable and not embarrassed or just being there for someone, keeping them company, making them laugh, and that is why I love and do my job as it's not just a job for me it's much more!
Marie L
I’m proud to be a carer because you are actually making a difference to people's lives, even just a friendly chat can makes someone’s day, which in turn makes you feel you are doing a worthwhile job.
Ellie K
I've been working as a Carer for 9 years and majority of the time has been with PramaCare. I can't see myself doing anything else for the foreseeable future and I'm proud of being a carer because I also enjoy helping, assisting people and making others feel better, comfortable or happier with their lives. If I made my clients smile and had a 'thank you' then I know that I've done my job well, my motto is 'if others are happy then, I'm happy'.
I'm not the most confident person at times I have low self-esteem. When I pop out to visit a couple of my clients, have a chat with them, and they are doing ok, everything seems to be better. I also feel very proud that I was able to keep the clients healthy and safe during the Covid-19 lockdowns and pandemic.
My Dad especially is very proud that I was a frontline/key worker and that we have a professional carer in the family. I feel very lucky to be working for a charity and feel very much part of a family, and 'team work makes the dream work!'
Most of the time my work as a CSW doesn't seem like work to me I used to find it a bit stressful travelling around to different towns and villages, but now I find it quite fun and I am lucky that I do enjoy driving around on my own or with our clients. The variety of clients and calls that we have to go to, one day is never the same as the next.
Kimberly K
I have been a carer for most of my life, starting out at the age of 12, and helping my Dad with every day life. It meant I had to grow up quickly, but also meant that I found my passion at a young age.
It has been my soul's purpose to help those in need, and especially to sit with the elderly and hear their stories and keep their essence alive.
I'm proud to be a carer because of the clients I have, and all the great and adventurous stories I've been gifted over the years.
Glenda C
The little differences we can make to a person's day - especially those who really struggle with having care, as initially, independence seems to diminish before it increases, once folk get used to our intrusive (in a good way) presence.
"We are only a small part of a person's day; sometimes the only person, yet when a meal is prepared with just the right amount of gravy, a bed left unmade rather than being too hard to untuck to get into, a hard-to-reach back washed with the right water temperature and the right pressure, fingernails cut, these little things are part of the daily variety of a Support Worker's life.
Yes, there are rotas, rules and legislation to follow, traffic, travel time and congestion to deal with, reports to complete accurately, but getting someone's pillow in just the right place, shopping bought when it's a struggle to walk, or an accompanying visit to Hydrotherapy, the Park to feed ducks, have a coffee, look at the sea, make plans, reminisce. These things make the day complete."