This is a staff story written by Charlotte (October 2019)
Hi I am Charlotte and I have been working at Chestnut Court Rest Home for 1.5 years and I love working here.
It has always been my ambition since as long as I can remember to work in a care environment, either as a carer, a nurse, a doctor or a paramedic. I am very pleased to say I have succeeded in achieving the role as a carer. My inspiration is my great grandmother who is now 95, she is still very independent and has a great sense of humour, her secret to a long life is “No Men”, she’s great! I have learnt a lot from her she was a health care assistant known as an auxiliary nurse in her time.
I saw the advert for carers on “Indeed” and applied, I didn’t have to wait very long before I was asked to attend an interview and offered a position. I was very nervous but I needn’t have worried because I was made to feel very welcome and put at ease by Becky the manager.
I felt immediately at home working here, everyone is helpful and supportive. I was buddied by an experienced carer for two weeks who took me through the routine. These two weeks gave me a really good opportunity to get to know the residents, they are great and amazing all rolled into one and we have a resident who is 100 years old. She is full of fun and mischief and keeps us on our toes!
The managers and the whole team work as one, we know each other’s strengths and where a colleague needs extra support. We communicate very well with one another, we plan and we automatically know what each other is doing throughout the day, we work in sync.
I am developing as a carer and being given opportunities to improve my knowledge and experience. I have been provided with all the required training and I am working on my Diploma 2 in Health & Social Care which is going really well and I hope to finish within 10 months. The training is exceptional and the trainer is very good.
If I were to sum up working at Chestnut Court “it’s a warm, friendly, welcoming home where you don’t feel like you are at work”.