Capturing carers thoughts following national day of reflection

Following the UK’s ‘national day of reflection’ held on Tuesday 23 March 2021, Radfield Home Care Wakefield and Dewsbury has been capturing the personal reflections of several of its care team.

The day of reflection was held exactly a year on from the start of Britain’s first lockdown and was devised by charity Marie Curie. It aimed to offer everyone a chance to ‘come together to reflect on our collective loss, support those who’ve been bereaved, and hope for a brighter future’. As part of the day of reflection, at midday a minute’s silence, that Radfield supported its staff to participate in, was held and later at 8pm a number of prominent landmarks were also organised to light up at 8pm, including Wakefield Hospice Gardens, For those working within the health and social care sector, the impact of covid has been felt deeply both at home and at work with carers being on the frontline of support to those in need. Radfield Home Care Wakefield and Dewsbury’s director, Jackie Gillen, experienced first hand the rapid changes ushered in by the covid pandemic both upon her care team and personally:

“There have been many challenges and changes to contend with over the past year. It has been unprecedented times where we have all had to adapt to ensure we keep each other safe. I am immensely proud of our care team and the effort, commitment, and dedication shown over this time, pulling together as a team to ensure loved ones, clients, and colleagues remained safe and connected at all times.”

Radfield’s care professionals have approached the last year with true dedication and a passion to deliver the same level of excellent care to their clients, despite the challenges introduced as a result of Covid. Here they offer their views and some positive reflections on the last year:

Leanne Evans, care assistant, said:

“It has been a difficult year with many new challenges for care professionals to overcome, coupled with working through one of the hottest summers on record whilst wearing full PPE – it hasn’t been easy. I have seen many examples of care professionals going above and beyond to help our clients throughout this time.

It feels like we have been fighting an invisible war nationally against Covid with many casualties along the way. However, knowing that I had a strong, resilient team to work alongside and one that supported each other, combined with us having all safety measures in place to keep us safe, we were able to get through it together. I believe there is now light at the end of the tunnel due to the vaccine roll out.”

Emma Wilson, care professional, shares her thoughts too:

“We’ve always received the relevant support that we’ve needed from Radfield. Working together as a team to get through the tough times, the key focus has always been to keep our clients safe and well, and support them with any issues they face due to lockdown restrictions. It’s also been about supporting each other, which we’ve all done – we have a great team of staff at Radfield and have been provided with all the equipment we need to stay safe, it’s gone a lot better than I expected it to in light of all the challenges.”

Radfield Home Care’s founder and director, Dr Hannah MacKechnie offers her personal reflections on what has been a most challenging year:

“I feel that a chance to reflect on the past year is so important to try to make sense of the unprecedented times that we have and are continuing to live through.

On a personal note having lost my father to Covid in May last year after not being able to visit him in the 2 months prior to his death, I understand and share the collective loss that we as a nation have felt. Being kept apart from our loved ones especially at their most vulnerable time is heartbreaking.

Being part of the care sector through the last year, I could not feel more proud to be part of a national community of care professionals who have made so many sacrifices and have shown such bravery being part of the frontline response to the pandemic. Having seen first hand how time and again our Radfield care professionals have stepped up to the mark to keep our clients safe and well in the most difficult and challenging of circumstances makes me so incredibly humbled.

Taking time to reflect helps us all to try to make sense of all that we have lost, all that has changed, but also all of the many powerful and heartwarming stories of resilience and people pulling together to keep each other connected and safe.”

 

Whatever this next year brings, Radfield is ready to support and to continue to provide the highest quality home care it is so proud to offer. If you would like to find out more about Radfield Home Care and the care support services offered, you can visit www.radfieldhomecare.co.uk or [email protected] or 01924 271 394.